Ex-Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia might step out of prison soon

However, she will have to go through legal procedures for her release, a senior Government leader has said.

"We expect her to be released as she now needs bail from courts in only two cases," the Prothom Alo newspaper quoted one of Zia's counsels as saying, a day after her high profile elder son Tarique Rahman, who was being tried in a number graft charges was released.

The lawyer's comment came as Commerce Adviser of the interim cabinet Hossain Zillur Rahman said yesterday that the government was "advancing the political process" without hampering the legal procedure for the release of Zia, the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

"She (Zia) has to seek bail in all the cases she is facing... She will be released once she is granted bail," Rahman told newsmen.

Zia's archrival Sheikh Hasina of Awami League was released on an government "executive order" in June this year for treatment abroad.

Nearly 200 high profile people, mostly politicians were detained or imprisoned under the campaign while dozens other ex-ministers and lawmakers of major political parties fled the country.

A number of corruption suspects have been freed on bail on High Court orders in the past several weeks apparently frustrating the government's campaign for reform and anti-graft drive.

"We are concerned lest the country should return to the previous situation," Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman told reporters when asked about Tarique Rahman's release on bail. "We are facing challenges to achieve our goals," Zillur said, adding that all the three parties -- the government, political outfits and the people -- should play equal role to face the challenge and remove the concerns," he said.