Bangladesh ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia jailed for five years amid clashes

Thousands have clashed with the government after a court in Bangladesh sentenced opposition leader Khaleda Zia to five years in jail on Thursday after convicting the two-time former premier of embezzling money meant for an orphanage. 

Ms Zia denies the charges and says they are politically motivated.

Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was found guilty of stealing $252,000 from a trust created for an orphanage, a charge she had dismissed as politically motivated.

"Since the court has been able to prove the charges against her and considering her social and physical status, Zia has been sentenced to five years in jail in the section 409 and 109 of the penal codes," said the judge, Mohammad Akhteruzzaman.

TRT World's Joseph Hayat reports.

After the verdict, Khaleda was escorted to the central jail in the capital, a three-storey red-brick structure with barred windows surrounded by trees, to begin serving her sentence in two rooms set aside for her, jail officials said.

Khaleda's son, Tarique Rahman, and four others were jailed for 10 years at the end of a case that lasted nearly 10 years.

Violence erupted in major cities across Bangladesh at news of the guilty verdict, with BNP supporters clashing with police and activists from the ruling party.

Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in the northeastern city of Sylhet, spokesman Abdul Wahab said. At least four people have been injured in the clashes, he added.

Police said they arrested at least seven BNP officials in the port city of Chittagong, including the local head of the party, after opposition supporters scuffled with police.

Ahead of the hearing in Dhaka police fired tear gas at thousands of opposition activists who defied heavy security to escort the car taking Zia to the magistrates court.

The private television station Somoy said at least five police officers had been injured and two motorcycles torched during the clashes that broke out several kilometres (miles) from the court premises.

Authorities have for days been on high alert for protests in the tense city, where political demonstrations by Zia's centre-right BNP and its allies in 2014 and 2015 left nearly 200 people dead.