Bangladesh files treason case against Khaleda Zia

Supreme Court lawyer Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi on December 27 had sought Zia be tried for sedition in the court under section 123 (A) of the country’s Penal Code, after the 70-year old Zia “expressed doubts” about the casualty figures in the 1971 Liberation War in a discussion on December 21, last year. Zia’s BNP is a crucial ally of fundamentalist Jamaat-eIslami, which was opposed to Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. 

“The case has been filed against her at the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court (Dhaka) this morning along with prayers seeking her arrest,” a court official said. After a brief hearing, the court summoned her to appear before it in person. The ruling Awami League, 1971 veterans and members of the martyred families had sharply reacted to Zia’s comments with some of them even calling her as the “agent of Pakistan”. The Home Ministry gave its nod to move the sedition case against Zia.