Jail not for luxurious life: Quader

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday said BNP Chief Begum Khaleda Zia is getting all facilities and due honour in jail as she is a former prime minister.

“Jail is not a place for leading a luxurious life or for spending leisure time...The BNP chief is getting all facilities available in jail as per the jail code,” he said at a press conference at his secretariat office, reports BSS.

Quader said, “Our leader (Sheikh Hasina) was not provided with any housemaid in the sub-jail during the 11/1 period...Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also in jail, but there is no such example of allowing housemaid with him.”

The minister said the building where Begum Zia has been kept is not an abandoned building at all. “She has been kept at the office of jail superintendent after its renovation, and it is a well-furnished building,” he added.

A special court on Thursday convicted former prime minister and BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia and sentenced her to five-year imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.