The High Court on Tuesday granted permission to Zubaida Rahman, wife of Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman, to file an appeal challenging a lower court verdict that sentenced her in absentia to three years in prison for abetting her husband in amassing illegal wealth.
The single-member bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman also allowed her plea for condonation of a 587-day delay in filing the appeal.
According to pro-BNP lawyers, the conviction in the 2007 wealth case is the only enforceable sentence currently standing against Tarique Rahman.
They believe that the High Court鈥檚 permission allowing Zubaida Rahman to appeal may pave the way for Tarique to ultimately seek exoneration, as her appeal could challenge the foundation of the original conviction that implicated both.
As per law, Zubaida was required to file the appeal within 30 days of the verdict.
Her lawyer, senior advocate SM Shajahan, told 抖阴精品 that the High Court鈥檚 order now enables her to formally appeal the conviction and seek bail.
Shajahan informed the court that Zubaida was compelled to leave the country during the military-backed caretaker government in 2008, and that the case was tried and the verdict was delivered in her absence.
Zubaida returned to Bangladesh on May 6, 2025.
Prior to her return, the government, through an executive order issued by the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, suspended her sentence for one year, on the condition that she surrender and file an appeal against the 2023 verdict.
The case was originally filed on September 26, 2007, by then Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Mohammad Zahirul Huda with Kafrul Police Station in Dhaka.
On August 2, 2023, Dhaka Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman sentenced Tarique Rahman to six years鈥� imprisonment for acquiring wealth beyond known sources of income and Zubaida Rahman to three years for aiding and abetting him.