Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
was handed another seven years in prison on Monday on corruption charges her supporters say are politically motivated to prevent her running in a general election.
Zia, long time rival of Prime Minister
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
, is already behind bars after being handed a five-year term in February on separate embezzlement charges.
That verdict triggered festivities between police and thousands of loyalists from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which Zia still leads from prison.
In her latest trial, Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzman found the 73-year-old guilty of abuse of power and embezzling 31.5 million taka destined for a charitable fund.
The verdict was handed down in a temporary courtroom inside Dhaka Central Jail where Zia ‐ who has been hospitalised for poor health ‐ is the only inmate.
Her lawyers, who were also absent during the verdict, have consistently described the trial as "political vengeance" by Hasina, who has been accused of stifling her opponents.