The meeting with coalition partners is scheduled for 8:30pm Sunday at her Gulshan offices, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
“The chairperson has convened the meeting to discuss the overall situation,” he told bdnews24.com.
On Thursday, a Dhaka special judge’s court concluded the trial of the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and kept its verdict pending for Feb 8.
The issue was at the centre of the discussion of Saturday’s BNP National Standing Committee meeting, after which the party said the trial is a ‘plot to keep Khaleda out of elections.’
“The government is acting beyond law and justice. We strongly condemn this,” Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the media.
The BNP leader urged the people to launch a democratic movement against the ‘government conspiracy in the name of trial’.
He also said they were not announcing any programmes over the verdict now. “We will let you know once the verdict is out.”
Khaleda is among six accused of embezzling Tk 21 million in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust when she was prime minister from 2001 to 2006.
They face up to life in prison if found guilty of the charges. In case of conviction, Khaleda will be disqualified for running in the next parliamentary elections.
The BNP alleges the government is prosecuting Khaleda to settle political scores - an allegation the government has denied all along, saying the judiciary is acting independently.
