The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has started the hearing of the appeal filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.

A full bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed fixed tomorrow for resuming the hearing .

Replying to the court’s question from where did the funds for the Zia Orphanage Trust came, Barrister Kaiser Kamal, a counsel of Khaleda, said the Kuwait government provided the funds in the name of the late President Ziaur Rahman and the money was deposited in a bank and the amount has been increasing over time.

The fund was allocated to establish two institutions in Bogura and Bagerhat in Ziaur Rahman’s name.

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Replying to another question, Kaiser Kamal said that the process to establish the two institutions started in 2006.

Senior lawyer Zainul Abedin also said the money is in the bank and is continuously growing.

Barrister Kamal said, "In this case, Khaleda Zia was imprisoned through fabricated charges. On the first day of the hearing, we presented arguments in favor of canceling her sentence. The hearing will continue on Wednesday. We hope she will receive justice."

Earlier on November 4, the court set November 10 for hearing on her leave to appeal pleas. After hearing, the court fixed November 11 for passing an order.

Khaleda, also a former prime minister, filed the leave to appeal petitions with the Appellate Division on March 14, 2019 through his lawyer challenging the HC verdict.

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Khaleda Zia was initially imprisoned on 8 February 2018, when a special court in Dhaka sentenced her to five years in prison for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft incident.

Later, in response to an appeal by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the High Court on October 30 of the same year, raised her jail term to 10 years.

The graft case

The Zia Orphanage Trust graft case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in July 2008, accusing Khaleda of misappropriating over Tk2.10 crore that was received as grants for orphans via a foreign bank.

In August 2011, the ACC filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station, accusing four people, including Khaleda, of raising funds for the trust from unknown sources and abusing power.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020, with the condition that she would stay at her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

Since then, her release term was extended every six months following the family's pleas.

On August 6 last year, Khaleda Zia was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

The president passed the order under Article 49 of the Bangladesh Constitution, according to a gazette issued by the home ministry on August 6, last year.