Bangladesh SC grants bail to ex-PM Khaleda Zia in graft case

Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia was on Wednesday granted bail by the country's Supreme Court in a graft case, according to media reports.

The Bangladesh's apex court has upheld the High Court's March bail order for the 72-year-old Zia, also the chief of the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), bbdnews24 reported.

However, this will not mean Khaleda will be released from jail because, as her lawyers said, she is being held behind bars in some other cases.

The Supreme Court, however, directed the HC bench, led by Justice Enayetur Rahim, to hear and dispose the appeal filed by Khaleda challenging conviction and a five-year jail term in the Zia Orphanage Trust case by July 31.

The BNP chief was jailed for five years on February 8 over the embezzlement of 21 million taka (about $250,000) in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, named after her husband late Ziaur Rahman, a military ruler-turned-politician. The High Court had on March 12 granted an interim bail to Zia.

Later, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government challenged the High Court order, taking their appeals to the Appellate Division.