BNP to hold first meeting today after Khaleda’s verdict

Two days after BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia landed in jail, the party leaders are going to hold its first meeting this evening in her absence.

The party’s standing committee members, its vice chairmen and advisors of Khaleda Zia are scheduled to hold the meeting at Khaleda’s Gulshan office around 6:00pm to discuss the party’s next course of action following the jail sentence of their chief, Syrul Kabir Khan, a staff of the BNP chief’s press wing, told The Daily Star.

On Thursday, Khaleda was sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment in Zia Orphanage trust corruption case, which is a severe blow to the party ahead of the upcoming national elections.

The special court also sentenced Khaleda's eldest son and BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk 2.10 crore each.

The Anti-Corruption Commission had filed the case with Ramna Police Station in July 2008, accusing Khaleda and the five convicts of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.