DHAKA: A Dhaka court on Monday (April 10) shifted the hearing on framing charges against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in 11 cases to April 25.

The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Kamrul Hossain Molla passed the order after Khaleda Zia’s counsels submitted time petition.

Of those, one is filed on sedition charge, eight sabotage cases with Darus Salam Thana and two with Jatrabari Thana in the capital. The High Court, however, stayed the proceedings of sedition and two sabotage cases with Darus Salam Thana.

The BNP chairperson was asked to appear before the court. But she skipped the trial proceedings due to her ‘illness’.

The sedition case was filed for her remarks about the number of martyrs during the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971. Former secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association Dr Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi filed case with a Dhaka court on January 25, 2016.

Eight cases were filed with Darus Salam police station in Dhaka and two others with Jatrabari police station in connection with arson attacks on vehicles in 2015.

Besides Khaleda Zia, other accused in the cases are -- BNP standing committee member MK Anwar, chairperson’s advisers Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Shawkat Mahmud, senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, joint secretary general Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, BNP leaders Aman Ullah Aman and Barkat Ullah Bulu, chairperson’s press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel and special assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas.

BDST: 1147 HRS, APR 10, 2017
SR