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Phone Calls From Prison

Ex-jail super found guilty

M Rahman
A probe body has found that a senior official of Dhaka Central Jail on several occasions let a BNP leader and three top Jamaat leaders accused of war crimes use his mobile phone in violation of the jail code.
It also found that the four inmates received facilities
like staying outside their cells after hours with the help of former senior jail superintendent Tauhidul Islam.
The three-member probe committee discovered that Tauhid provided division facilities to other Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and people accused of attempting to kill Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Tapash as well.
The committee even found evidence that Tauhid had illicit relationships with female jail guards.
The Daily Star last night failed to reach Tauhid for his response.
The committee was formed following a newspaper report that Tauhid had been allowing three Jamaat leaders--Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed and Nayeb-e Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee—to talk on mobile phones from the prison.
The 29-page probe report stated that Tauhid also let BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu use his phone. He apparently used two to three mobile phones so that the four could talk to people at home and abroad for hours.
All four are first-class prisoners of Dhaka Central Jail.
The probe body talked to witnesses, mostly jail guards, who said on several occasions Tauhid was seen sharing food with the four during Ramadan.
The witnesses said they do not know what the four prisoners talked about over the phone since Tauhid did not allow them near the prisoners. They said the inmates talked over the phone for as long as four hours.
The probe body found that Tauhid did not lock up the four leaders in their cells before sunset; he even let them stay out till 11:30pm during the last Ramadan.
Three other Jamaat lead-ers--Assistant Secretary Generals Abdul Kader Mollah, Mohammad Karnaruzzarnan and Dhaka City Jamaat Ameer Rafiqul Islam, also detained in connection with war crimes— enjoyed the status of first-class prisoners at Dhaka Central jail with the help of Tauhid. He gave them mosquito nets, quilts, chairs, tables, and rechargeable battery-powered fans violating the jail code.
Five prisoners accused of trying to murder lawmaker Fazle Noor Tapash by
exploding a bomb also enjoyed the status of first-class prisoners courtesy of Tauhid. The five were even given couches to receive their visitors.
The probe body received depositions of 11 jail guards including the chief jail guard on September 26 and 27 at the Dhaka Central Jail. Some of the witnesses still work at the jail while others have been transferred to other jails.
Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Ashraful Islam Khan yesterday submitted the probe report to Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder at his office, said Sikder.
The body recommended imposing restrictions on on-duty officers' entering jails with their mobile phones, locking up prisoners before sunset in all jails of the country, punishment of Tauhid and letting the incident be known to all so that it does not happen again.
Deputy IGP of Khulna and Barisal AKM Fazlul Haque was the chief of the committee while Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury, senior superintendent of Comilla Central Jail, and Mohammad Forman Ali, superintendent of Bogra District Jail, were members.