Khaleda transferred to new building in old Dhaka jailhouse, gets house help

The jail authorities have transferred Khaleda Zia to a new building inside the old Dhaka Central Jail complex and allowed the BNP chairperson’s long-time house help to stay with her.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal informed the reporters about the development on Wednesday.

“Khaleda Zia is in a safe and healthy place. The building where she is kept is a new one, and it was a daycare centre,” he said to reporters.

He said the former prime minister was getting ‘all the facilities available’ for a Division prisoner in the jail.

He added the authorities had no plan to shift her from the current accommodation in the new building.

After a special court sentenced Khaleda to five years in jail for corruption on Feb 8, the authorities took her to the old jailhouse  Nazimuddin Road.

She was initially kept in a room earlier used by a jail official.

After her lawyers visited her in the jail, the BNP alleged she was kept in a ‘rickety and damp’ building. It also alleged she was not getting the facilities a former prime minister deserves in jail.

Later, the jail authorities said they were treating Khaleda as a first-class inmate.

The BNP had also said the jail authorities were not allowing Fatema Begum, a 35-year-old woman who has been serving Khaleda as a house help for around two decades, to stay with the 72-year-old even though they had applied for it.

Senior Jail Superintendent Md Jahangir Kabir told bdnews24.com on Wednesday they have allowed Fatema to stay with Khaleda now.