Khaleda: Rizvi denied justice

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has demanded the release of her party's Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi who was ordered into jail by a Dhaka court in several violence cases. “I think justice was not reflected in Rizvi's case,” she said in a statement on Thursday, hours after a court rejected his bail petitions in five cases. Khaleda, a former prime minister, claimed Rizvi was in fact a victim of “political vengeance”, noting that his name was not included in the chargesheet. She alleged that sending the BNP leader to jail in a bailable case reflected the “government’s agenda”. “The judiciary cannot perform independently today,” Khaleda alleged. “Rizvi is a lawyer and respectful to law and that is why he surrendered before the court and sought bail,” she said. “But justice was not reflected in the rejection of his bail pleas.”