Bangladesh Nationalist Party will hold rallies across the country, including in the capital, on Friday protesting what the party said a dictated verdict of lower against its acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case.

Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the programme at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office on Thursday.

In Dhaka, he said the rally would start at 2:00pm on Friday in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office. BNP’s Dhaka south, north city and Dhaka district units will arrange the programme.

‘Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman have been sentenced illegally and unfairly due to political vendetta. Thousands of people took to the streets soon after the announcement of the verdict and registered their protest against it,’ Fakhrul said.

He said that their party’s all metropolitan city and district units would hold rallies to formally protest against the court verdict.

Regarding the metropolitan cities, he said the district units of the party would jointly arrange the rallies with the city units.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Dhaka court sentenced BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman to nine years imprisonment and his wife Zubaida Rahman to three-year imprisonment in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2007.

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.

The court also fined Tarique Tk 3 crore and Zubaida Tk 45 lakh.

Minutes after the verdict was delivered, 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, staged a demonstration in Nayapaltan area.

BNP’s different city and district units also staged a similar demonstration denouncing the verdict.

From the demonstration at Nayapaltan, BNP’s Dhaka south city unit convener Abdus Salam announced that they would arrange a rally at Nayapaltan on Friday.

Besides, BNP’s three associate bodies-Jatiyatabadi Swechchasebak Dal, Juba Dal and Chhatra Dal-also announced to hold protest rallies across the country on Thursday.