Family seeks Khaleda Zia's treatment abroad, extension on jail sentence suspension

The family of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has applied to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking her treatment abroad and extension of her release period.

Khaleda's younger brother Shamim Iskander applied to the ministry on behalf of the family on 6 March, said BNP media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan.

Earlier, on 12 September, the home ministry issued a notification extending the suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's jail term by another six months, for the eighth time.

The conditional suspension of Khaleda Zia's jail sentence came into effect from 25 September, which is going to end this month.

Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020 with conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country. Since then, her release term has been extended every six months following the family's plea.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.

Khaleda, a 78-year-old former prime minister, has long been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, eye problems and post-Covid complications.