DHAKA: A court in Bangladesh sentenced opposition leader Khaleda Zia tofive years in jail on Thursday after convicting the two-time former premierof embezzling money meant for an orphanage.
Prosecutors were seeking life imprisonment for Zia — a two-time formerprime minister and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party — for allegedlyembezzling 21 million taka ($252,000) through a charity trust fund.
With the guilty verdict, Zia,a former ally turned arch-nemesis of PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina, will no longer be able to contest the generalelection slated for December.
Police had banned street protests and rounded up what opposition figuressaid was thousands of their supporters in a crackdown ahead of Thursday’scourt ruling in the capital, Dhaka.