Clashes erupt as BNP chief appears in court

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters throw stones during a clash with police during party chief Khaleda Zia’s court appearance in Dhaka yesterday.

Agencies/Dhaka

Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas yesterday as they clashed with hundreds of activists outside a Dhaka court where the main opposition leader is facing trial for corruption.

Police said up to 1,500 supporters turned out as Khaleda Zia, who served two turns as Bangladesh’s prime minister, appeared in court seeking to have her case postponed.

“We secured the court premises for security and barred unwarranted people, but her supporters got angry and threw stones at police, forcing us to retaliate,” additional commissioner of police Mehedi Hasan said.

Hasan said police beat the protesters with batons and fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.

“Four of our officers were injured in the incident,” he said, adding he could not say whether there were any casualties among the protesters.

A photographer was also hurt during the clashes, private television station Channel 24 said.

Zia, the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is seeking to have two corruption cases against her postponed because the country’s highest court is hearing appeals against the legality of the charges.

She and eight of her aides are accused of embezzling more than $600,000 meant for orphans and a charitable trust during her second term as prime minister in 2001-6.

The cases were filed by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog in 2008 and 2011. Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman is also among the accused in one of the cases.

Her lawyers say the cases are politically motivated and aimed at keeping Zia and Rahman, her heir apparent in the party, out of politics by her bitter rival, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain said the court has set September 10 for the next hearing.

Judge Basudev Roy of the Special Judge Court-3 passed the order after the BNP chief appeared in the makeshift court at Bakshibazar around 1pm.

On August 8, 2011, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.

ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid, who is also an investigation officer, pressed charges against the accused on January 16, 2012.

The ACC also filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Zia, Rahman, now living in the UK, and four others for misappropriating over 21mn taka which came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.

On August 5, 2010, ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid submitted a charge-sheet to the court against six people, including the BNP chief.

The makeshift court was set up for security reasons as the Dhaka court premises are congested.