Bangladesh SC defers Khaleda’s bail hearing

Dhaka, May 8 (IANS) The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred a hearing on opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's bail in a corruption case in which she is currently serving a five-year sentence.

A four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will resume the hearing of arguments from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader's side on Wednesday, the Daily Star reported.

On February 8, a special court found Khaleda, who is also facing several other cases of corruption, violence and sedition, guilty of embezzling $252,000 in foreign donations for the Zia Orphanage Trust.

She was granted a four month bail by the High Court on March 12. However, the apex court stayed the bail order following two petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government.

Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said Khaleda cannot be given bail "due to the gravity of the offences she committed".

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