Mentioning that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has not yet appealed for her release on parole, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday said the government will consider it if she admits her guilt and offers apology for it.

“The government will consider the BNP chief’s release if she appeals for parole after admitting her guilt and offering apology for it,” he said while talking to reporters after attending a religious programme in Tarail upazila in the afternoon.

The minister also said the BNP chairperson is receiving the country’s ‘highest’ treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), reports the UNB.

Khaleda has been in jail since she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.

Meanwhile, Khaleda’s lawyer Advocate Zainul Abedin told UNB on Sunday that they will again file a bail petition this week seeking their party chief’s release.

Pointing at section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he said the government can suspend jail term of such convicts under special consideration.

BNP leaders and activists on Saturday demonstrated in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office demanding its chairperson’s release.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said the government urgently needs to free Khaleda Zia on humanitarian grounds instead of doing politics over the issue.