Bangladesh’s top court has acquitted Khaleda Zia in the last remaining corruption case against her, paving the way for the former prime minister to contest elections.
The South Asian country was plunged into a political and economic crisis in August 2024 after months of protests led by students toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government, forcing the prime minister to flee to India and ending her 15-year rule.
The nation of some 170 million people is currently run by an interim administration headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has indicated that the next general election could be held at the end of this year or the first half of 2026.
An Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a 10-year jail sentence handed down to Ms Zia in 2018 on charges of embezzling nearly $250,000 (£204,583) from an orphanage trust established when she became prime minister in 1991. The case had been filed by the anti-corruption commission in July 2008.
The court also cleared Ms Zia's son and fellow accused, Tarique Rahman, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison as well. Mr Rahman, his mother’s heir apparent as leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party under the nation’s dynastic political system, has been living in the UK since Ms Hasina's Awami League was elected to power in 2009.
The Supreme Court said the prosecution of the orphanage trust case was "malicious", the Daily Star reported.
Ms Zia's lawyers said the verdict meant she could contest the next election. Bangladeshi law prohibits anyone imprisoned for over two years from running for political office for the next five years.
Ms Zia had faced a total of 17 years in prison, 10 years in this orphanage case and seven in the other corruption case in which she was acquitted after Ms Hasina's ouster.
Her lawyers and party always denied any wrongdoing involving the trust and denounced the charges against Ms Zia as politically motivated.
Her lawyers told local media Ms Zia had been slapped with as many as 37 cases by the military regime from 2007 to 2008 and by the Hasina government. The charges included corruption, violence, arson, defamation, and sedition.
Ms Zia, 79, is ailing and traveled to London for medical treatment earlier this month. She is the widow of late president Ziaur Rahman and served as prime minister between 1991 and 1996 and again from June 2001 to October 2006.
BNP, the largest opposition party in Bangladesh, has been pressing the interim government for a clear plan to hold a national election.
Mirza Fakrhul Islam Alamgir, the party’s secretary general, this week urged the administration to take steps towards conducting the election by July or August this year.
“We have repeatedly stated that there’s no alternative to an elected government. It’s crucial for democracy,” he said. "We urge the government, the election commission, and all political parties to take necessary steps to hold elections by that time in that greater national interest.”
Mr Yunus has insisted that elections can be held only after electoral reforms are put in place. Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman in September told Reuters that democracy should be restored within a year to a year-and-a-half, but urged patience.
