‘She is alone in jail’

Staff Correspondent: BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s lawyers have managed to speak to her a day after she was sent to jail.

After speaking to her at the jail, the lawyers told journalists that Khaleda Zia has been kept at the jail like ordinary prisoners and is staying there alone.

Barrister Moudud Ahmed and four other Khaleda’s lawyers entered the jail around 4:26pm on Saturday and came out around 5:45pm.

The four other Khaleda’s lawyers are Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, former attorney general AJ Mohammad Ali, Abdur Rezzak Khan and Khandker Mahbub Hossain.

“It’s a matter of regret that our leader (Khaleda) has not yet been given division though she is a three-time Prime Minister,” BNP senior leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed said.

Moudud brought the allegation while talking to reporters at the gate of old central jail at Nazimuddin Road in the capital before meeting Khaleda.

He said 18 categories of prisoners, including ex-prime minister, are entitled to get division under the jail code. “But she [Khaleda] has not been given that.”

After meeting the BNP chairperson, Moudud said they will appeal against the lower court verdict on Monday or Tuesday if they get the certified copy of the verdict.

He said Khaleda has been kept at a lonely prison, which is far from people. “She has been given food like ordinary prisoners.”

Mentioning that domestic help Fatima has been serving her for the last 15-20 years, Moudud said but she is not allowed to serve Khaleda. “It’s not true that the BNP chairperson has been given division.”

On Thursday (February 8), a special court here convicted Khaleda and sentenced her to five year’s imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Later, she was taken to the old central jail on Nazimuddin Road.


risingbd/Dhaka/Feb 10, 2018/Nur/AI