NEW DELHI (AP) – On Wednesday, a court in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader whose political feud with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has dominated the country’s politics for more than a decade.
It was the latest in a series of legal cases – some legitimate, some politically motivated – that have swept up powerful politicians across Asia in recent years. There’s the former Thai prime minister living in exile and the jailed opposition leader in Malaysia. There’s the former president of the Maldives who was arrested early this week. And there are the so-called “two ladies” of Bangladesh, both of whom have been detained behind bars on a variety of charges that, in the end, were never proved.
Sometimes, it is obvious when the charges are politically motivated.
But very often, that never becomes clear.
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