A Dhaka court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia after cancelling her ad-interim bail in the Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Judge Court-5 passed the order as Khaleda failed to appear before the court.

Her lawyer Zakir Hossain told the court that she could not come due to hartal enforced by some left parties protesting hike in power prices.

The judge said the hartal had no impact on the road as there was huge traffic.

On October 12, the same court issued another arrest warrant against Khaleda as she had been skipping hearings in the cases since July 15. The order was passed when she was in London for treatment.

On October 19, the makeshift court in Bakshibazar granted Khaleda the ad-interim bail after she surrendered before it and sought bail.

The court yesterday also closed recording the BNP chief's self-defense statement in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and fixed December 5 for placing arguments.

It also fixed the same date for placing her self-defence statements in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.       

Earlier, it recorded statements of 32 prosecution witnesses in both the cases.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Khaleda's lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder said the BNP chief would face the cases legally. 

On August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station, against four, including Khaleda, accusing them of raising funds for the trust from unknown sources through abuse of power.

BNP DEMONSTRATIONS

The BNP yesterday announced that it would stage demonstration across the country on Sunday protesting the arrest warrant against Khaleda.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed announced the programme at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan headquarters.

“It's politically motivated and part of the blueprint of the government,” Rizvi said, condemning the warrant.

As part of the programme, the party and its associate bodies would stage protests in all the districts and upazilas, he added.