The Supreme Court yesterday acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her son, BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others of corruption charges in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.

With the Appellate Division scrapping the verdicts of the High Court and a trial court in the case, there is no legal bar now for Khaleda to contest the next national elections, Fahima Nasrin Munni, a pro-BNP lawyer and former deputy attorney general, told The Daily Star.

On February 8, 2018, the trial court sentenced Khaleda to five years imprisonment and others, including Tarique, to 10 years in jail in the graft case.

The HC doubled the jail sentence of Khaleda to 10 years and upheld the trial court's verdict on the others on October 30, 2018.

 Tarique has been in London since 2008 while Khaleda travelled there this month for treatment.

The Appellate Division's verdict said, "All the appeals are, hereby, allowed by this division's unanimous decision."

"Accordingly, the judgements of both the High Court Division and the trial court are, hereby, set aside. Consequently, all the appellants having not been found guilty of the charges levelled against them, stand fully acquitted".

"The proceedings constituting the subject matter of these appeals are found to manifest contrived misapplication of the law as tantamount to malicious prosecution," a five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed observed.

The verdict, read out by the chief justice, added, "This judgement shall also extend to other convicted persons who, however, did not prefer any appeal. This decision shall, resultantly restore the appellants' and all other convicts' dignity, reaffirm their innocence, and thereby, put an end to the unwarranted proceedings initiated against them".

"All appellants on bail shall necessarily stand discharged from their respective bail bonds," the apex court said, ordering authorities concerned to communicate and send down the records immediately.

Detailed observations will be available when the complete verdict is released.

The top court delivered the judgement after holding hearings on two appeals filed by Khaleda and one each by Saleemul Huq alias Kazi Kamal and businessman Sharafuddin Ahmed challenging the HC verdict.

"There was no merit in the case. Sadly, the High Court Division had extended Khaleda Zia's five-year jail sentence to 10 years. … The High Court verdict was given on the fascist government's instructions," Khaleda and Tarique's lawyer Zainul Abedin told reporters after the Appellate Division's verdict.

"However, things are different now. It seems that the judiciary works independently. Those who could not appeal, including Tarique Rahman, have been acquitted," he said.

Kayser Kamal, another lawyer for Khaleda and Tarique, said his clients and all the other accused have been served justice by the Appellate Division verdict.

"The verdict has proven that Sheikh Hasina implicated Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman and other accused in the case to achieve her political ambitions and establish fascism. Everything was part of a political scheme," the lawyer added.

When contacted, the Anti-Corruption Commission's lawyer Ashif Hassan said he would convey the SC verdict to the commission.

The commission will take its decision accordingly, he said.