A Bangladesh Special Court on Monday remanded four former ministers, and key allies of ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, in judicial custody for alleged corruption until a court hearing later this week, court officials said. The four ministers, Saifur Rahman, Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami (leader of Jamaat-e-Islami), Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain, are among the key contestants Khaleda would likely field in the Dec. 18 parliamentary election. Three ministers belong to Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) . The four have been charged by the Anti-Corruption Commission, along with Khaleda and 10 others, for leasing out a coal mine in the country's north to a Chinese firm, without a transparent deal, after Khaleda assumed power for a second term in 2001. Analysts said the court decision could cast fresh doubts on whether the election would be held on schedule, or possibly make the BNP and Jamaat's participation more unlikely. “It will strengthen the perception among many people (mostly BNP supporters) that the interim authority is favouring the Awami League to clinch power in the coming election,” said Asif Nazrul, law professor at the Dhaka University. Khaleda and some of her co-accused are now free on bail but the court summoned the four ex-ministers to surrender by Monday and then sent them to jail. The next hearing is set for Nov. 13. Hundreds BNP and Jamaat supporters gathered outside the court and burst into anger after hearing the verdict. But police drove them back, witnesses said. Dozens of top political leaders, including Khaleda and her main rival Sheikh Hasina, chief of the Awami League and a former prime minister, were arrested for alleged graft and abuse of power, after the army-backed interim authority took over in January 2007 and launched a drive against corruption in public life. But most of them, including the ex-premiers, have been set free on bail or parole, as the government desperately wants to ensure participation of their parties- BNP and Awami Legaue, the two major players in Bangladesh politics, in the December election, to make it credible and peaceful. The Election Commission says those convicted by the Special Power Courts under emergency rules would be barred from the election, even if they have appealed against their sentences.
