By IANS
Dhaka : Supporters of former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina may hire foreign lawyers to battle for her against a clutch of charges including murder. But her aides admit the government may veto the idea.
The Daily Star reported Sunday that bringing in foreign lawyers had become necessary because the government was enrolling most prominent Bangladeshi legal brains to assist the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to prevent them from defending any of the accused.
Lawyers engaged with graft cases of ACC cannot defend Sheikh Hasina, a senior lawyer told the newspaper.
An Awami League leader who maintains contact with Hasina said they had talked to her about bringing in foreign lawyers. He, however, expressed doubts if the government would allow foreign lawyers to come into Bangladesh.
"If we finally decide to bring in lawyers from abroad, the expatriates, who are well-wishers of Sheikh Hasina, will gather the funds for employing foreign lawyers," the leader said.
Significantly, top legal luminaries, who have at one time or the other been part of the Awami League and have been the party's lawmakers and ministers, have been approached and have agreed to work for ACC.
The Awami League had engaged a foreign lawyer when Hasina's father and Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was implicated in a conspiracy case by the then Pakistani government four decades back.