Former Bangladeshi PM Zia gets bail: lawyer

DHAKA: Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia was granted bail on corruption charges Tuesday, allowing her to be released after more than a year in custody, her lawyers said. Zia's release is part of an apparent deal with the emergency government and will likely ensure her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), stands in December elections aimed at restoring democratic rule.

"She has been given a three-month bail in both cases," lawyer Nadir Uddin Amir told AFP. "She had already been given bail in two other cases, so now she can be freed tomorrow." The government wants 63-year-old Zia to travel abroad for medical treatment, but lawyers said Tuesday she might stay in Bangladesh following her release.

"She has arthritis and knee problems and she will be treated in Dhaka initially," said another lawyer, Ahmed Azam Khan.
"After a few days she will decide whether or not to go abroad for treatment." Two-time premier Zia - Bangladesh's most recently elected premier, serving from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006 - has been in custody since September 3, 2007 as part of the interim authorities' crackdown on corruption.

The government, which came to power in January 2007 after emergency rule was imposed and polls cancelled following charges of vote-rigging, freed Zia's arch-rival, ex-premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed in June. Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League party who led the country from 1996-2001, was allowed to travel to the United States where she has been receiving medical care.

Her lawyers have said that she would return to Bangladesh next month, but political observers say she might opt for voluntary exile and not come back. The release of the two women has been widely seen as a bid by the government to end a stalemate with both parties and allow elections to be held by the third week of December.

Dhaka University political scientist Ataur Rahman said it was crucial for the interim government to restore democracy to Bangladesh, otherwise its time in power would have been a failure. "If they can't hold elections then they are totally defeated," he said. "If there's no election it will be a complete reversal of their achievements."

Authorities released Zia's older son and heir apparent Tareque Rahman last week after bail was granted on all 13 graft charges against him. Often referred to as the most powerful man in Bangladesh despite having held no ministerial post in his mother's government, Rahman is expected to fly to Britain Thursday to seek treatment for a spinal injury.
Zia's younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, was freed last month.