DHAKA: Bangladesh’s exiled opposition leader, Tarique Rahman, has been sentenced in absentia to nine years in jail for corruption, triggering protests from hundreds of supporters who view the trial as politically motivated.
Rahman, the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), received the nine-year sentence, while his wife, Zubaida Rahman, was handed a three-year jail term, according to Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khushid Alam Khan.
The charges against Tarique Rahman included concealing income and accumulating wealth disproportionate to his income, while his wife was found guilty of abetting him in these actions. Lawyers representing the BNP leader denounced the sentence as “100 percent politically motivated,” asserting that the case was aimed at keeping him out of politics ahead of the upcoming December-January general election.
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The BNP and its allies have been staging protests since last year, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the establishment of a caretaker government to oversee the elections. The political climate in Bangladesh has raised concerns among western governments, as the ruling party dominates the legislature, effectively operating it as a rubber stamp.
Tarique Rahman has been leading the BNP from London since 2008. Prior to this recent conviction, he was already serving a life sentence for his involvement in a 2004 grenade attack that resulted in over 20 fatalities during a political rally for then-opposition leader Hasina. Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, who was the prime minister at the time of the attack, is currently under effective house arrest after being sentenced to 17 years in jail in two separate graft cases in 2018.
Zubaida Rahman, who is not involved in politics and is a doctor by profession, has not been sentenced before. The conviction now prevents her from returning home and makes her ineligible to stand in the upcoming polls.
The sentencing of the opposition leader and his wife has intensified political tensions in Bangladesh, adding to the challenges facing the country ahead of the upcoming general election.
