Bangladesh jails key opposition lawmaker for graft

Dhaka :A Bangladeshi court sentenced a senior opposition figure to five years in jail Tuesday for evading taxes on the sale of a car he imported when his party was last in office.
The opposition in the South Asian country has long complained that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League party — which tightened its grip on power following elections last year — is seeking to muzzle dissent.
Harunur Rashid, who has emerged as a prominent voice in parliament, was found guilty of evading taxes on Monday after he sold a car he had bought duty-free in 2005 when his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in government.
He was sentenced to five years in jail and fined five million taka ($59,000) by a court in Dhaka “for selling the duty-free car illegally, depriving taxes to the government”, court inspector Ashikur Rahman told AFP.
The owner of a private television channel who bought the car was also sentenced to two years in jail.
There was no immediate comment from the BNP, the largest opposition party, whose leader and two-time former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was last year jailed for 10 years on graft charges.