Bangladesh leader Khaleda Zia jailed for 5 years on corruption
Shares
Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia has been sentenced to five years in jail for corruption.
The verdict was read out in a court in Dhaka after police used tear gas to disperse thousands of her supporters.
Ms Zia, 72, denies misusing international funds donated to a charitable children's trust.
The sentence means she is barred from parliamentary polls due this year. She said the charges were politically motivated.
The case is one of dozens pending against Ms Zia, who has been a rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for decades.
Ms Zia's son Tarique Rahman was also given 10 years in jail.
BBC
Bangladesh police fire tear gas to scatter opposition protesters
Bangladesh police used tear gas on Thursday to disperse thousands of opposition activists who took to the streets of the capital after verdict in a graft case against a former prime minister.
Protesters swarmed the roads, defying a police ban on rallies.
“Security has been ramped up in the capital and elsewhere in the country to thwart any untoward incidents,” Dhaka Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told reporters outside the court.
Television broadcast images of motorcycles set on fire.Earlier on Thursday, the normally clogged streets of Dhaka were almost bare, after authorities cut off bus and ferry services into the city and thousands of riot police spread out in anticipation of unrest.
Prosecutors have accused Khaleda, her son and aides of stealing 21 million taka ($253,000) in foreign donations received by the trust.APP/AFP
