<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">BNP will hold a rally in the capital on Friday to protest against a lower court verdict against party acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>BNP’s Dhaka south city unit convener Abdus Salam announced the programme on Wednesday after a demonstration in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the rally will start at 2pm on Friday at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, hundreds of BNP leaders and activists staged a demonstration in the Nayapaltan area protesting the court verdict against Tarique and Zubaida.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leaders and activists started gathering in the area since 1pm on Wednesday amid huge presence of law enforcers.</div><div><br></div><div>As the court delivered the verdict, the BNP followers along with party senior leaders, including its vice chairman Barkatullah Bulu, chairperson’s advisers Amanullah Aman, Abdus Salam, and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, brought out a procession towards Nightingale crossing from Nayapaltan around 4:05pm.</div><div><br></div><div>They shouted a slogan that they don’t accept the "verdict of Sheikh Hasina".&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they held a rally in front of the BNP office with Abdus Salam in the chair.</div><div><br></div><div>Addressing the rally, Barkatullah Bulu said the verdict against Tarique and his wife was a ‘dictated’ one.</div><div><br></div><div>“Common people will not accept this verdict. You (Sheikh Hasina) will be removed from power and tried on the soil of Bengal. You (Sheikh Hasina) get ready for it,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier in the day, a Dhaka court sentenced BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman to nine years imprisonment and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman to three years in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2007.</div><div><br></div><div>Judge Md Asaduzzaman of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court handed down the verdict against Tarique and Zubaida who have long been staying in London.</div><div><br></div><div>The court also fined Tarique Tk 3 crore and Zubaida Tk 45 lakh.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, a group of pro-BNP lawyers staged a demonstration in the Dhaka Court area in protest against the verdict.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on Tuesday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir feared that their acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman could be sentenced in the graft case by a ‘dictated’ verdict as per a blueprint of the government. According to UNB reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>