Khaleda sent to jail, Coco remanded

A Dhaka court Monday rejected an appeal for bail of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and ordered her into jail after security forces arrested her early morning. Khaleda would be kept in a special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises, said the prisons chief. The court of metropolitan magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah remanded her younger son Arafat Rahman Coco, arrested shortly after 7:30am along with her, in custody for seven days for questioning. Personal staffers for Khaleda's family, Yusuf and Amir, were also taken to court. Khaleda arrived in court in sari and sunglasses and Coco was in jeans and T-shirt. Security officials battled chaos in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for Dhaka. The embattled former prime minister was driven away from her cantonment home to court in a Nissan Patrol car (Dhaka Metro Gha: 02-3327) in a security bubble. Coco was in a different car. The move came hours after the Anticorruption Commission filed a corruption case against 13 people, including the former prime minister and the younger son. Lawyers who defended Khaleda and her son in court were Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Sanaullah Miah, Masud Ahmed Talukder, Lutfe Alam and Khorshed Alam. Prosecution officer Abdur Rashid represented the ACC in court. Another group of lawyers, led by Barrister Mahbubuddin Khokan, tried to push their way into court, but RAB officers stopped them, sparking an angry exchange of words. Police and RAB officers and intelligence agents swarmed the road to the Shaheed Mainul Road residence of the BNP chief. Security officers put in place a huge security arrangement on the road to the CMM's Court, but a huge crowd seemed to have stretched it. Earlier in an exclusive phone interview with bdnews24.com a couple of hours before the arrest, Khaleda said: "I'm not afraid of arrest. People are with me. The case against me is false." Khaleda faces allegations of having a role in shady appointment of a private handling company, Global Agro Trade Company as a contractor for the Inland Container Depot in Kamalapur and Chittagong Port Container Terminal. The ACC alleged that Khaleda used her influence illegally as prime minister in the appointment of the contractor. In the build-up to the arrest, scores of security officers in plainclothes drove into Dhaka cantonment before dawn, as the arrest of the BNP chairperson loomed in the horizon. Plainclothes officers arrived at the house at around 5:15am and asked Khaleda and Coco to "get ready" in a clear indication of arrest, house staffer Ruhul Amin told bdnews24.com at 5:40am. At least 10 cars in the first batch drove into the cantonment shortly after 5am, followed by another convoy of up to 25 cars, witnesses reported from the scene. In the rare interview with bdnews24.com, Khaleda said: "Against the BNP, there was a conspiracy in the past. Still there is. I hope BNP leaders and workers stay united." "I worked for people all my life. I'm passing the burden of justice to people as well. Please pray for me," Khaleda told bdnews24.com by phone from home.