Dhaka, March 21: Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia has refused to become a voter to protest against what she says is her "illegal" detention by the government.

Those in charge of a jail specially set up in the parliament complex for her urged her twice to sign the voter registration forms but she refused, her lawyer Ahmed Azam Khan said.

But her political rival and another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, detained in another jail nearby, has become a voter from the Dhanmondi area, where her residence is located.

Like Zia, her two sons, politician Tareque and businessman Arafat, have also been jailed on corruption charges.