As part of its countrywide scheduled programme, BNP leaders and activists will stage a human chain in the city today protesting the jailing of its chairperson Khaleda Zia in a graft case, reports UNB. The party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that their party leaders and followers will observe the programme from 11am to 12 noon in front of the Jatiya Press Club also demanding the release of Khaleda immediately. He said their party's district, thana, upzila and city units will also observe the programmes at their convenient time and places. Earlier on Saturday, Rizvi announced a three-day protest programme at a press briefing at BNP's Nayapaltan central office.

As part of the programmes, the party will also hold an hour-long sit-in programme on Tuesday and a hunger strike from 9am to 5pm on Wednesday across the country.

On Thursday last, a special court here convicted Khaleda and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Earlier, BNP leaders and activists staged demonstrations on Friday and Statuary all over the country, including in the capital, amid obstruction by police protesting Khaleda's conviction.

Rizvi said the government has continued arresting their party men across the country. He claimed that around 4,300 BNP leaders and activists have so far been arrested across the country over the last 13 days.