Claiming that their party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was subjected to extreme repression during her time in jail, BNP senior leader Mirza Abbas on Friday demanded that those responsible be brought to trial.
“National leader Begum Khaleda Zia had been subjected to extreme torture in prison,” he said while addressing a milad and doa mahfil.
Abbas, a BNP Standing Committee member, said Khaleda was kept in an abandoned part of the old central jail in extremely poor and unhealthy conditions.
He said she was placed in a room infested with rats and insects, where even an animal would struggle to survive, let alone a human being.
“Some deputy jailers and jail officials unfairly kept her in a room on the roof. From this event, I want to say it should be investigated how much torture she endured during her jail life, and all those responsible should be brought to justice,” the BNP leader said.
BNP arranged the programme on the ground floor of its Nayapaltan central office to mark Khaleda’s 81st birthday.
Abbas recalled the days when BNP leaders were allowed to visit her in jail once every two weeks. “We saw with our own eyes the unbearable suffering she endured. Despite our best efforts to provide her with facilities from outside, we failed,” he said.
He also said during those meetings they witnessed Khaleda’s strong morale, but also saw her health gradually deteriorating. “We realised then that something poisonous was being mixed with her food.”
The BNP leader prayed to the Almighty Allah for Khaleda’s long life, good health and well-being.
Paying tribute to Khaleda’s political journey, Abbas said she was an example of leadership admired across the world, having transformed from a housewife into a leader who took to the streets, stood with the people and led both the party and the country through struggles.
He praised Khaleda Zia’s strength and dedication during BNP’s most difficult times. “Despite immense pressure, we saw her firm leadership. Her love for the party’s leaders and activists was unmatched. She never compromised on democracy.”
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Begum Khaleda Zia was jailed on 8 February 2008 after being convicted in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. She was reportedly kept in a damp and unhealthy cell in the old Dhaka Central Jail, which allegedly worsened her health due to a lack of proper medical care.
Although her family had repeatedly requested that she be sent abroad for advanced treatment based on doctors’ advice, the then Awami League government rejected the appeals.
In March 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the government granted her conditional release for six months. Since then, she has been staying at her rented residence, “Firoza”, in Gulshan under virtual house arrest.
BNP organised this milad and doa mahfil at its central office in Nayapaltan on the occasion of Khaleda Zia’s 81st birthday.
In addition to the central programme in Dhaka, similar events were held in mosques, orphanages and madrasas across the country, seeking Khaleda’s good health and long life, as well as eternal peace for those martyred during the 1971 Liberation War, the 1990 democratic movement and the 2024 mass uprising.
BNP Standing Committee members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Nazrul Islam Khan and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also spoke at the event.