A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to another seven years in prison on corruption charges that her supporters say are politically motivated.
Judge Md Akhtaruzaman on Monday found her guilty of misuse of power as prime minister in collecting $375,000 for the Zia Charitable Trust Fund from unknown sources in a court in Dhaka.
Zia was absent in court as she is currently hospitalised while serving a prison term of five years in a separate case. She was sentenced to five years for embezzling funds for an orphanage.
The judge also sentenced three others to seven years in jail each for collecting the money from undeclared sources for the trust named after Zia’s late husband and former President Ziaur Rahman.
In February, Tarique Rahman, Zia’s elder son and heir apparent, and four others were also sentenced to 10 years in the case.
Earlier this month, Rahman was sentenced to life imprisonment over a 2004 deadly attack on current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Rahman, who is the acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been living in exile in London since 2008.
BNP has accused the ruling Awami League party of running a political vendetta against BNP leadership in advance of parliamentary elections due at the end of the year.
