The High Court (HC) has extended the bails of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to one year in two defamation cases against her, reports bdnews24.com.
The cases were filed in Dhaka and Narail over the BNP chief's 'derogatory remarks' on freedom fighters and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The bench of Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim issued the order after hearing a bail petition filed by Khaleda's lawyers on Tuesday.
Among the lawyers for Khaleda, AJ Mohammad Ali, Kaiser Kamal and Foyez Jibran were present.
The HC had granted six months' bail in each of the defamation cases in last year's August, said Kaiser Kamal, one of the lawyers for the BNP chief.
The new bail pleadings were made after the terms of the previous bails had passed, he added.
The HC granted six-month bail to Khaleda in the defamation case filed in Narail on August 13.
She received bail on similar charges filed in Dhaka on August 14.
The government had filed the petitions with the Supreme Court seeking a freeze on HC bail orders.
The chamber judge transferred the petitions to the Appellate Division for a hearing. The apex court later rejected the petitions after the hearing on last year's October 01.
The former prime minister has been serving a five-year jail term since Feb 08 in the Zia Orphanage Trust case, and was named as an arrestee in other cases.
Khaleda at a discussion in Dhaka in 2015 raised questions about the actual number of Liberation War martyrs, saying, "There're controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There're also many books and documents on the controversies."
Reacting to Khaleda's remarks, Raihan Farooque Imam of Naragati filed a case in Narail in the
same year.
