B'desh court orders ex-ruler to serve sentence

Dhaka, Dec 26: Bangladesh's Supreme Court today rejected a plea by former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad to overturn a two-year jail sentence and ordered him to surrender to a lower court.

Ershad had sought a reprieve from the sentence, given by a lower court years ago for squandering state funds in a deal to purchase patrol boats from Japan while he was in power from 1982 to 1990. The ruling was confirmed by the High Court this month.

The leader of the Jatiya Party, Ershad plans to contest parliamentary elections due January 22 as an ally of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, the main opposition party for the past five years.

Legal officials have said this may not be possible if Ershad gave himself up. However his lawyers argued he could make another appeal and also contest the election from behind bars, which he did in the impoverished southern Asian country's 1996 ballot while serving another jail sentence for corruption.

Then, Ershad contested five constituencies with Jatiya Party tickets and won all of them.

Ershad seized power in a bloodless coup in early 1982 and was ousted in a people's revolt jointly led by Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) in December 1990.

The two women who rebelled, both former prime ministers, fell out after Ershad's fall and have since remained foes. They are both key contenders in the coming vote.

The BNP was in government until it handed power to a neutral interim authority in October.

REUTERS