Khaleda Zia, Haji Salim not eligible to contest national elections: ACC lawyer

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and former Awami League MP Haji Salim will not be able to participate in the upcoming national elections as they have been jailed for more than two years in corruption cases, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) panel lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said today.

"Last Sunday, the High Court ruled that a person sentenced to more than two years in a corruption case cannot participate in the election, even if they are out on bail or their sentence is suspended on appeal unless the sentence is cancelled by the court," Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters at the Supreme Court.

"If the Appellate Division suspends the judgement of the High Court in view of someone's appeal, then they will get a chance to participate in the election," he added. 

Khurshid Alam Khan also said, "There is no chance for participating in the election until the sentence is annulled by the court. In the light of this verdict, Khaleda Zia, Haji Salim and any person sentenced to more than two years will not be able to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Because their sentence was not cancelled. If the Appellate Division revises the judgement of the High Court or annuls it, it is a different matter." 

Earlier on Sunday, observing a verdict, the High Court bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam ruled that an accused sentenced for more than two years in corruption cases is constitutionally ineligible for the national elections.

The full 44-page copy of the verdict, delivered on 27 November 2018, was published on the Supreme Court's website on Sunday.

BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has been in jail since 8 February, 2018 for the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On 10 October 2019, her sentence was extended by five more years after her lawyer appealed against the lower court order.

Meanwhile, in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case, Khaleda Zia was sentenced to seven years as a special court convicted her on 27 October 2019. She also faces a few more cases.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020 with conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country. Since then, her release term has been extended every six months following the family's plea.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.

In January this year, Haji Salim, who has been undergoing treatment at BSMMU prison cell – serving jail time for a corruption case, was freed on bail.

He was sentenced to jail for 10 years upon being convicted of graft charges brought by the ACC.