Bangladesh’s Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Tuesday said jailed former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has been barred from contesting the upcoming national elections, Dhaka Tribune reported. Alam’s announcement follows a High Court order that prohibiting prohibiting anyone sentenced to over two years in jail for corruption from contesting the elections.
Bangladesh goes to polls on December 30.
On October 30, a Dhaka court had extended Zia’s jail term from five to 10 years in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, the Dhaka Tribune reported. Zia, Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, was convicted in February of embezzling funds meant for the orphanage and sentenced to five years in jail.
According to prosecutors, the Zia Orphanage Trust and the Zia Charitable Trust were established in the name of Zia’s late husband and former President Zia ur Rahman, and existed only on paper.
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