BD opposition names Zia’s son acting head

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s main opposition party named the exiled eldest son of Khaleda Zia as its acting head on Friday, a day after a court jailed its leader for corruption.

Zia, 72, spent the night in jail after she was sentenced to five years over the embezzlement of $252,000 meant for an orphanage, a charge she has dismissed as politically motivated. Her son Tarique Rahman, who was also found guilty of involvement in but escaped prison because he lives in London, will be the party’s interim leader.

"He is the new acting chairman in accordance with the party’s constitution," Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told AFP. The conviction could prevent Zia from running in a general election slated for December, although she is expected to appeal.

She spent the night in what her party officials say is a disused jail in the old part of Dhaka. "She is in isolation," said Alamgir, adding that her conviction is "part of a government blueprint to establish one-party rule".

Rahman, 53, fled to London in 2008 after he was detained by an army-backed government for more than 18 months. In 2016, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of money laundering.

Prosecutors have also sought his death sentence over a 2004 grenade attack at a rally of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in which more than 20 people were killed and she was injured. The BNP plans to stage nationwide demonstrations late Friday afternoon in protest at the verdict.