Khaleda’s release on parole possible if she admits guilt: home minister

Mentioning that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has not yet appealed for her release on parole, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan today said the government will consider it if she admits her guilt and offers apology for it.

"The government will consider the BNP chief's release if she appeals for parole after admitting her guilt and offering apology for it," he said while talking to reporters after attending a religious programme in Tarail upazila of Kishoreganj this afternoon.

The minister also said the BNP chairperson is receiving the country's "best" treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Khaleda has been in jail since she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.

Meanwhile, Khaleda's lawyer Zainul Abedin told UNB today that they will again file a bail petition this week seeking their party chief's release.

Pointing to section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he said the government can suspend jail term of convicts under special consideration.

The section says: "When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the government may at any time without conditions or upon any condition which the person sentenced excepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced."

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said the government urgently needs to free Khaleda Zia on humanitarian grounds instead of doing politics over the issue.