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Govt treating Khaleda badly

Accuses BNP, says its chief being denied division in jail

Staff Correspondent
The BNP has accused the government of keeping the party's chairperson Khaleda Zia in solitary confinement at the “abandoned" Dhaka central jail and demanded that she be given division immediately.
The government would be held responsible if anything bad happened to her in jail, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a press conference at the party chiefs Gulshan office last night.
The government, however, claims that Khaleda is being treated as a "first class prisoner", getting all her due benefits.
Jail officials in the last couple of days said that a physician and a nurse were taking care of her round-the-clock. Two deputy jailers were looking after her security. Besides, there was a TV set and an attached toilet in her room.
The jail authorities are also giving priority to her choice for food, they said.
Fakhrul said, "Our five senior lawyers met Khaleda Zia today [yesterday]. You will be astonished to know that she has been kept in solitary confinement at the worn-out Dhaka central jail".
As per the jail code, he said, a former prime minister or a former opposition leader is entitled to division in jail and no court order is needed for that.
"But she has been denied it. We ask the government to immediately provide her with division. Or else, the government will be held responsible for violatingthe jail code."
He also alleged that the government was not allowing Khaleda to keep her domestic help with her. "It's an inhuman attitude."
Earlier in the day, another senior BNP leader Moudud Ahmed said, "Madam [Khaleda] has been kept in the jail just like any other ordinary prisoner. It is the violation of the Jail Code because she is supposed to get division [status] as a former prime minister and the chief of a political party."
"The chairperson was also served food meant for ordinary prisoners," he told reporters after meeting Khaleda in the jail on Nazimuddin Road.
The BNP leader said Khaleda was being kept in such a situation to give her pain and that “the jail authorities were basically helpless [over the matter]".
The Daily Star contacted the deputy inspector general of prisons last night but he refused to make any comment. The jail superintendent and the inspector general of prisons did not receive phone calls despite repeated attempts.
Moudud along with former speaker barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, former Attorney General AJ Mohammad Ali, Abdur Rezak Khan and Khandker Mahbub Hossain went to jail gate around 2:45pm to meet theBNPchairperson.
They had to wait for two hours to meet her. The BNP leaders entered the jail around 4:30pm and came out around 5:45pm.
Regarding their meeting, Moudud said they discussed about her case and bail. "We would try to get the court verdict copy tomorrow [today] and then we will make our next move for the bail and the appeal with the High Court [against the Dhaka court verdict]," hesaid.