Khaleda Zia gets bail after a year in prison

Dhaka: Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia was on Thursday freed on bail after more than a year in jail on charges of corruption.

A sessions court in Dhaka granted her bail for three months after several weeks of behind the scene negotiations between her and top officials of the current military-backed caretaker government, Star Online said.

While Zia, 63, was set to walk free, speculation persisted on whether her elder son Tarique Rahman, who had also been granted bail, would be freed soon to be able to go abroad for medical treatment.

The release of Zia, who served two full terms as the prime minister (1991-96 and 2001-06), paves the way for her participation in the December parliamentary polls at the head of a powerful four-party alliance that includes the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Zia was jailed on Sep 3 last year, six months after Tarique was taken by the government, which launched a drive against corruption in February last year imprisoning over 200,000 persons, including 200 high profile politicians, businessmen and officials.

It is widely believed that Zia had made her release conditional to that of her ailing son, who is supposed to have damaged his spine while in detention.

Zia received bail in all the four graft cases instituted against her, but bail for two of these was challenged by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday. An appeal court rejected this by the end of the day, paving the way for her release.

Demanding freedom for her son, Zia has held out in jail despite ill health, in contrast to her arch rival Sheikh Hasina, also a former prime minister, who was released on parole in June and is abroad receiving treatment.

Hasina had been in jail for 11 months prior to that.

Both the women leaders were lodged in special jails, located close to each other on the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) complex.

Both have denied charges of corruption and misuse of office levelled by the government in a number of specific cases at various stages of prosecution.

Zia, widow of former president Ziaur Rahman, was the last elected prime minister who quit office in October 2006 in favour of a caretaker government tasked to hold election.

The elections were, however, called off amidst political turmoil in January last year.

The caretaker government that is committed to hold the elections in December has been engaging with political parties.