Petition seeks order to show Khaleda Zia arrested

Dhaka: A petition was filed on Wednesday seeking BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is in jail, to be shown arrested in a defamation case filed for undermining Bangladesh’s national flag and map.

AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organisation, filed the petition with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahsan Habib.

The court said it will deliver its order in this regard after hearing the petition.

AB Siddique, filed the case on November 3, 2016 with a Dhaka court accusing Khaleda Zia and her late husband ex-president Ziaur Rahman of undermining Bangladesh’s map and flag.

According to the complaint, Khaleda appointed ministers from Jamaat-e-Islami and handed over the map and the national flag of Bangladesh to them who had fought against the country during the Liberation War in 1971.

Later, on October 12 last year the court issued arrest warrant against the BNP chief in the case.

Meanwhile, Khaleda was sentenced to five years jail in a Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8.