Bangladesh ex-PM Khaleda Zia gets 7 more years in jail over graft case

Dhaka: Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia was sentenced on Monday to another seven years in jail by a court here in a corruption case.

Zia, 73, who is already serving a jail term since February after being convicted in another case related embezzlement of funds of an orphanage named after her husband president Ziaur Rahman in February, was sentenced along with three others.

The latest sentence is related the Zia Charitable Trust. According to the case, Zia and three others abused their power and raised funds for the trust from unknown sources.

Earlier in the day, Bangladesh's Supreme Court cleared the way for a lower court to deliver its verdict in the case by rejecting Zia's plea to halt the proceedings. The apex court rejected a leave-to-appeal petition filed by Zia challenging the High Court judgement that allowed a lower court to continue trial in the graft case in her absence.

The court on September 20 decided to continue the trial inside the old Dhaka central jail in Zia's absence.

The former premier on September 27 filed a revision petition with the High Court (HC) challenging the court's September 20 order.

On October 14, the HC rejected the revision petition of Zia and cleared the way for the trial court to continue with its proceedings. Zia had skipped appearances in the case citing illness.