Law Minister says Khaleda’s election fate depends on court

Ittefaq Report

Law Minister Anisul Huq has said that there are two Supreme Court verdicts which have convicted BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and said that the court will now decide if she can participate in the next national elections.

“According to the Constitution, if a person is sentenced to more than two years for moral turpitude, then the person cannot contest the national election in five years after serving the jail term,” the minister said on Tuesday after inaugurating a four-storey District RegistrationComplex at Kayempur in Dhaka.

He said that one of the Supreme Court verdicts against Khaleda Zia mentioned that she can join the polls if the sentence is suspended in appeal while in another split verdict, one judge said she can take part in the election and the other said no.

Earlier in the day, the High Court extended the jail term of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case to 10 years from five years.

Other than that, a Dhaka court on Monday sentenced her and three others to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each in the much-talked-about Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Replying to a query about the dialogue between Awami League and Jatiya Oikyafront leaders, the Law Minister said, “The Prime Ministerhas taken a positive decision for the continuation of democracy and there’s no international pressure in this regard.”

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the President of Awami League, invited Jatiya Oikyafront to join the dialogue with her party at 7pm on Thursday at Ganobhaban.