HC adjourns hearing of Zubaida's appeal against jail sentence until May 26

The High Court today adjourned until May 26 the hearing of an appeal filed by Zubaida Rahman, wife of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, challenging the trial court verdict that sentenced her to three years' imprisonment in a corruption case in 2023.

The HC bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman set 2:00pm on May 26 for resuming the hearing after concluding today's proceedings on the matter.

Earlier in the day, the bench started hearing the appeal, with Zubaida's lawyers SM Shahjahan and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan reading out from the relevant documents of the case.

Yesterday, the HC bench fixed today for hearing the appeal filed by Zubaida.

The bench on May 14 granted bail to Zubaida in this case after admitting her appeal for hearing.

The bail for Zubaida, who returned to Bangladesh on May 6 after 17 years in London, will continue until the disposal of the appeal, it said.

The HC also stayed the implementation of the fine imposed by the lower court on Zubaida in this case and called for its record from the lower court, Advocate Maksud Ullah told The Daily Star.

Earlier, on May 13, the same HC bench condoned her 587-day delay in filing the appeal against the trial court verdict in the case.

According to the law, an appeal is supposed to be filed with the HC within 60 days after the trial court delivers its judgement in such a case, Advocate SM Shahjahan, a senior counsel for Zubaida, told this correspondent.

The government on October 2 last year suspended Zubaida Rahman's jail term for one year on the condition that she would file an appeal in the case upon surrender.

Following the HC's order of condonation of delay, Zubaida's lawyers filed the appeal with the HC on her behalf, challenging the trial court judgment.

On August 2, 2023, a Dhaka court sentenced Tarique Rahman to nine years' imprisonment and his wife Zubaida to three years in jail in the corruption case.

Tarique was also fined Tk 3 crore, in default of which he will have to serve three more months in jail. The court fined Zubaida Tk 35 lakh.

If she fails to pay the money, she will have to serve one more month in prison, the trial court said in its verdict.

On September 26, 2007, the ACC filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against the two and Zubaida's mother, Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, on charges of amassing assets worth Tk 4.82 crore through "illegal" means and concealing the information of Tk 2.16 crore in their wealth statements.