A Bangladesh court on Wednesday granted bail to former prime minister Khaleda Zia [official profile] in 10 pending cases, allowing her to go free. Zia, the head of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) [party website], is facing charges including arson for anti-government protests that turned violent. Zia also faces sedition charges for questioning the official death toll in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. Zia claims that the charges are politically motivated [BNP press release] and designed to keep her from running in the next election, expected to take place in 2019.

Zia surrendered in April to a court after an arrest warrant was issued against her in connection with the firebombing bus attack [Al Jazeera report] last year staged in opposition of the government. In January Zia was ordered to appear in court [JURIST report] following charges of sedition. In May 2008 Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) [official website] filed formal charges against Zia for an alleged kickback scheme that awarded lucrative gas contracts to Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd. In March 2014 the former prime minister and other members of the BNP were indicted [JURIST report] on two corruption charges, accused of embezzling funds from a charitable trust named after Zia’s deceased husband.