DHAKA – Thousands of Bangladeshi opposition supporters staged ralliesacross the country on Monday demanding the release of their jailed leaderKhaleda Zia and free and fair elections.
Zia, twice prime minister in the Muslim-majority nation of 160 million, wasimprisoned for five years last week for embezzlement, sparking riots fromsupporters who rejected the verdict as politically motivated.
The leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is expected to appealbut the conviction may affect her ability to stand in a general electionslated for December.
Thousands of BNP activists in cities across Bangladesh joined hands in amarch calling for Zia’s immediate release from a prison in Dhaka.
“We want her immediate release and a free and fair election,” BNP secretarygeneral Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told AFP outside the national press club inDhaka where more than 5,000 gathered.
Zia, 72, is expected to be freed on bail once the appeal has been lodgedbut her supporters fear Bangladesh’s ruling party will try and keep herdetained on other charges.
She is accused of dozens of other criminal violations including corruptionand violence.
One of her lawyers, Zainul Abedin, said authorities were attempting onMonday to hold Zia in connection with an arson attack in 2015.
Alamgir said at least 4,300 opposition officials had been arrested in thepast fortnight as police sought to offset resistance ahead of Zia’ssentencing.
A party vice chairman and two former ministers were among those detained,he added. Police have not commented on the arrests.
Zia is a former ally-turned-archrival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP boycotted the general election in 2014 that saw Hasina return topower, but Zia is expected to contest the upcoming poll in December.
Her son Tarique Rahman, who lives in exile in London, has been named as theacting opposition chief, despite being convicted and jailed in absentia forten years on the same charges as Zia.
Last month prosecutors sought the death penalty over his alleged role in adeadly 2004 grenade attack that injured Hasina.
Zia and her son were detained by an army-backed government in 2007 andspent a year and a half in detention pending trials for alleged corruption.