DHAKA: Bangladesh prosecutors on Thursday demanded life imprisonment for opposition leader Khaleda Zia for corruption.
The two-time prime minister and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party could be banned from standing in a national election this year if she is convicted. Zia has said the case is politically motivated.
The trial of Zia and her son Tarique Rahman before a special anti-corruption court ended Thursday and a judge said a verdict would be given Feb. 8.
"We hope all the accused of this case will be sentenced to life in jail," lead prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kazal told reporters after the final arguments.
Prosecutors have accused Zia, her son and aides of stealing some 21 million taka ($252,000) from a trust created for an orphanage.
Hearings have been delayed for years by numerous petitions to higher courts.
Zia's lawyers say the charges are aimed at keeping Zia and her family, which ruled the country for 15 years, from politics.
"It is not a criminal case. It is a political case," her lawyer Moudud Ahmed, a former justice minister, told AFP.
"She will be acquitted. It is a case of no evidence," he added.
Zia faces dozens of separate charges related to violence and corruption.
Her son, who is in exile in London, was convicted of money laundering in 2016.
Last month prosecutors sought the death sentence for Rahman for his alleged role in a deadly 2004 grenade attack in which current prime minister Sheikh Hasina was injured.
The trial is fraught with risk for the authorities.
A conviction of the 72-year-old Zia could trigger protests by her centre-right BNP and Islamist allies. Similar demonstrations in 2014 and 2015 around elections left nearly 200 people dead.
Prime Minister Hasina this month announced a general election would be held this year. The BNP, which boycotted 2014 polls, is expected to contest the vote.
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Bangladesh prosecutors seek life for opposition leader Zia
Bangladesh prosecutors seek life for opposition leader Zia
Taiwan says Chinese drone made ‘provocative’ flight over South China Sea island
TAIPEI: A Chinese reconnaissance drone briefly flew over the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea on Saturday, in what Taiwan’s defense ministry called a “provocative and irresponsible” move.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, reports Chinese military activity around it on an almost daily basis, including drones though they very rarely enter Taiwanese airspace.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese reconnaissance drone was detected around dawn on Saturday approaching the Pratas Islands and flew in its airspace for eight minutes at an altitude outside the range of anti-aircraft weapons.
“After our side broadcast warnings on international channels, it departed at 0548,” it said in a statement.
“Such highly provocative and irresponsible actions by the People’s Liberation Army seriously undermine regional peace and stability, violated international legal norms, and will inevitably be condemned,” it added.
Taiwan’s armed forces will continue to maintain strict vigilance and monitoring, and will respond in accordance with the routine combat readiness rules, the ministry said.
Calls to China’s defense ministry outside of office hours on a weekend went unanswered.
In 2022, Taiwan’s military for the first time shot down an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast controlled by Taiwan.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400 km (250 miles) — from mainland Taiwan.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan’s military, but lie at a highly strategic location at the top end of the disputed South China Sea.
China also views the Pratas as its own territory.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, reports Chinese military activity around it on an almost daily basis, including drones though they very rarely enter Taiwanese airspace.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese reconnaissance drone was detected around dawn on Saturday approaching the Pratas Islands and flew in its airspace for eight minutes at an altitude outside the range of anti-aircraft weapons.
“After our side broadcast warnings on international channels, it departed at 0548,” it said in a statement.
“Such highly provocative and irresponsible actions by the People’s Liberation Army seriously undermine regional peace and stability, violated international legal norms, and will inevitably be condemned,” it added.
Taiwan’s armed forces will continue to maintain strict vigilance and monitoring, and will respond in accordance with the routine combat readiness rules, the ministry said.
Calls to China’s defense ministry outside of office hours on a weekend went unanswered.
In 2022, Taiwan’s military for the first time shot down an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast controlled by Taiwan.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400 km (250 miles) — from mainland Taiwan.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan’s military, but lie at a highly strategic location at the top end of the disputed South China Sea.
China also views the Pratas as its own territory.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
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