None of the members of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s family and her relatives has applied to the government for her release from jail on parole, Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a lawyer for Khaleda and a BNP leader, said today.

He said, “The government has been making different statements about the release of Khaleda Zia from jail on parole. But the government has not communicated with her family or lawyers over this issue. The government has intentionally kept her (Khaleda) in jail in order to run politics.”

He said this while replying to questions from reporters at a press briefing at the Law Reporters Forum’s office on the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) premises.

Mahbub Uddin, also the secretary of the SCBA, said he had worked for the release of Khaleda Zia’s sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko from jail on parole during the regime of the caretaker government.

Then the caretaker government had communicated with the family and lawyers for Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko and applications were filed with the government for their release on parole, he said.

“Khaleda Zia is very sick. But the present government has not communicated with her family and relatives about her release on parole,” Barrister Mahbub Uddin said.

Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister of the country, has landed in jail after she was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a Dhaka court on February 8 last in Zia Orphamge Trust corruption case.

The High Court on October 30 last year enhanced her sentence to 10 years’ imprisonment in the same case.

On June 14 last year, Law Minister Anisul Huq has ruled out the demand for the release of Khaleda from jail on parole on humanitarian ground for her better treatment.

“If Khaleda Zia is released from jail on parole, it will be a serious breach of the Jail Code,” the law minister told The Daily Star.

Earlier in the day (yesterday), Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon told the press briefing that the real situation of Bangladesh does no corroborate the recent statement placed by Law Minister Anisul Huq at the review meeting of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva, capital of Switzerland.