Bangladesh's former PM Khaleda Zia jailed for 7-years on corruption charges; lawyers call it 'political revenge'

Khaleda Zia, Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister and Opposition leader was jailed on October 29 on corruption charges for seven years, after she was already facing jail-time for five years in another case. 

The Bangladesh court that declared her sentence, announced that both the cases would run synchronously, thus acquiring two more years of jail time for her. Her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been in the state of dismay ahead of the General Elections approaching in December after the verdict of Zia’s jail-term, who are in Opposition to PM Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) 

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She was earlier charged for theft, for looting funds designated for an orphanage. 

The 73-year-old ex-Prime Minister and three aides are facing conviction of embezzlement of 31.5 million takas (Around $375,000) for a trust during her time in the Office from 2001 to 2006, a case launched by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2011. 

The BNP strongly believes that the corruption charges are a politicized vengeance by her opposition to keep Zia and her family out of the political spectrum of Bangladesh. 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Zia are both related to former leaders of the country who have dominated for over two decades, nurturing a long race and rivalry.

Zia’s entry into politics was in the mid-1980s after the assassination of her husband and the ex-military dictator. The charges that she faces are termed unconstitutional by her lawyers and her family faced another low after the life-imprisonment of her oldest son Tarique Rahman in an alleged opposition movement. 

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The former Prime Minister had complained to the court that she was losing feeling in her hand and in a leg. In an order on Thursday, October 4 the High Court ordered for Zia to be admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. Keeping her health and position in mind, a room inside the prison was converted into a make-shift court for a fast-track trial.