Law Minister Anisul Huq has said that the ministry would give its opinion on the application of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's family to allow her to go abroad for better treatment.
The papers in this regard will be sent to the Home Ministry today (Sunday).
Talking to the media on Saturday, Anisul Huq said, “Since today (Saturday) is a government holiday, there are no officers and employees in the office. So, it was not possible to send the file on the application from our ministry. The papers in this regard will be sent to the Home Ministry on Sunday morning with our legal opinion. Then, the Home Ministry will take necessary initiative accordingly.”
The minister did not disclose the ministry’s opinion, saying that the Home Ministry will provide information about this. He, however, said that the government is thinking the matter positively.
Earlier, Shamim Eskander, younger brother of Khaleda Zia, who is undergoing treatment for post-Covid complications in the coronary care unit at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, submitted the application to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on May 5 night.
After receiving the application, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal forwarded it to the law ministry for review.
After receiving the application from the home ministry, Anisul Haq had said that Khaleda Zia’s conviction was suspended under section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on two conditions. There is a scope in the section of suspending any conviction on conditions or without conditions. The section has already been implemented in her case. The law ministry will review the matter further.
Meanwhile, it was known that Khaleda Zia’s family is all set to send her to London for treatment, if the government relaxes the conditions of her release. According to sources, all preparations have been completed to send her to London via Singapore. Her elder son Tarique Rahman lives there with his family.
The 76-year-old former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia tested positive for Covid-19 twice in a month — on April 10 and April 24. She was admitted to the Evercare Hospital on April 28 for some tests as a part of her follow-up medical check-up. But after hospitalisation, her condition deteriorated and she was shifted to the coronary care unit with respiratory problems.
The BNP chief, who had been convicted in two cases, has been staying at her Gulshan residence since her release from jail on March 25 in 2020 on an executive order on conditions that she would take medical treatment at home and would not leave the country.
She was initially jailed on February 8 in 2018 for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. On October 30 in 2018, the High Court doubled her five-year jail term in the case.
She was also sentenced for seven years in jail in Zia Charitable Trust graft case on October 29 in 2018.
