Khaleda Zia’s bail in defamation cases extended by six months

Published: February 05, 2019 14:19:32 | Updated: February 09, 2019 13:54:22

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia appears before a court in this undated Focus Bangla file photo

The High Court has extended BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's six-month bail to one year in two defamation cases filed in Dhaka and Narail over her 'derogatory remarks' about freedom fighters and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The bench of Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order on Tuesday after hearing a petition filed by Khaleda's counsel, reports a news agency.

Earlier on August 13, the HC granted six-month bail to the former prime minister in a defamation case filed in Narail. The next day, the court granted her six-month bail in a case filed in Dhaka.

Khaleda Zia, at a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh on December 21, 2015, had raised questions about the actual number of Liberation War martyrs.

Following her remarks, Raihan Farooque Imam of Narail filed a case with the Cognisance Court on December 24 that year. On January 5 the next year, AB Siddiqui, president of Jananetri Parishad, filed another case with Dhaka's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.