Khaleda Zia surrenders in court, gets bail in defamation cases
20 Oct 2017 10:42 PM IST
Dhaka: Bangladesh's embattled former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Thursday surrendered before a local court that granted her bail in graft and defamation cases. The court had issued an arrest warrant against her last week.
"The bail was granted on conditions that she would inform the court before leaving the country in future," a court official said. He said Zia, 72, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief, had to pay a bond of Taka 1,00,000 ($1211) for obtaining the bail.
Surrounded by her party activists, Zia came to the court in Dhaka and surrendered before the judge, a day after she returned home from London after a three-month visit. After granting the bail, the court held a routine hearing where she gave an hour-long statement claiming her innocence in the graft cases. The judge fixed October 26 as the date for the next hearing.
"She also claimed that cases filed against her are false, motivated and imaginarily made up and aimed at harassing her," a defence lawyer said. Court officials and lawyers said Dhaka's Metropolitan Magistrate issued the first warrant as Zia failed to appear in another court over a case accusing her of undermining Bangladesh's map and national flag.
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