DHAKA: A Bangladesh court issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for former prime minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, action likely to escalate tensions fuelling anti-government protests in which more than 100 people have been killed over the past month.

A special anti-corruption court issued the warrants after declining Ms Zia’s plea for more time in two graft cases.

“The court issued warrants against her ... There is no justice,” her lawyer Sanaullah Miah told reporters. Ms Zia is accused of embezzling $650,000 in two corruption cases involving charitable funds during her last term as prime minister, from 2001 to 2006.

She has failed to appear in court for hearings, citing security concerns.

She and leaders of her party have denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

Ms Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party refused to take part in a general election a year ago, saying it was rigged. It stepped up protests last month in a bid to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and hold a new vote under a neutral caretaker administration.

Ms Hasina has refused, instead tightening her grip by arresting key opposition leaders and clamping down on critical media.

Bangladeshi politics has been mired for years in rivalry between Ms Hasina and Ms Zia. Both women are related to former national leaders, and they have alternated as prime minister for most of the past two decades.

More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured in political violence over the past month, mostly in petrol bomb attacks on vehicles, amid opposition transport blockades and strikes aimed at toppling the government. Ms Zia, 69, is also facing charges of instigating the violence.

A court official said copies of the warrants for Ms Zia’s arrest had been despatched to police, to be carried out.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play