HC to hear Khaleda’s appeal against sentence from July 2

The High Court Division said Wednesday that from July 2 it would hear former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s appeal for setting aside her five-year jail term in Zia Orphanage Trust case.
A bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman set the schedule after Anti-Corruption Commission prayed for holding early hearing of her appeal.  
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan prayed to dispose of her appeal by July 31 as the Appellate Division directed on May 16. 
The HC rejected Khaleda Zia’s lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali’s request not to hear her appeal until the Appellate Division disposes of her petition seeking review of its directive to the HC to dispose of the appeal by July 31.
 The Appellate Division had set the deadline for disposing of the appeal after upholding four months’ bail granted to her by the same HC bench in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
Khaleda Zia’s lawyers said that the government did not release her on bail as it was trying to disqualify her for Parliament elections.
They called it quite unusual for the High Court Division to hear Khaleda Zia’s appeal on the requests from the government and the ACC and not as the appellant had prayed for as the common practice demands.     
Since February 8, the former prime minister has been in the old Dhaka Central Jail for five years following conviction in the Zia Orphanage Trust case by a lower court.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net