The government has extended suspending sentence of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for another six months.

Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification on Monday. The extension will come into effect from September 25.

Now hospitalised due to critical illness, Khaleda has stayed out of jail since long following suspension of sentence in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

Last week, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs recommended extension of suspension and sent the file to the Ministry of Home Affairs for final decision.

Talking to journalists, law minister Anisul Huq said the ministry recommended the extension on two existing conditions for Khaleda Zia to receive treatment in the country and avoid foreign trip.

As the tenure of the seventh extension will expire on September 24, relatives of BNP chief applied to the home ministry seeking further extension. The application was sent to the law ministry for opinion. Later, the law ministry sent back the application with its nod to home ministry for issuance of gazette in this regard.

During outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, on March 25, 2020, Khaleda Zia was first enraged on the government’s decision made in exercise of Section 401 (1) of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC).

A Dhaka court, on February 8, 2018, sentenced Khaleda to imprisonment for 5 years in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.  Later, on October 30, the High Court hiked her sentence to 10 years upon an appeal filed by the government.

Khaleda Zia, on October 29, 2018, was awarded seven years of jail in Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.