‘Keeping Khaleda in an abandoned prison violates human rights’
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday accused the government of violating human rights by keeping BNP chief Khaleda Zia in an abandoned and dilapidated prison.
The BNP leader said this while staging a sit-in in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s central office in the capital.
“Our current movement and struggle are to free the leader of the country and many of our leaders and activists. This battle is also to free the people of Bangladesh and to restore democracy,” said Fakhrul.
On 8 February this year, the ruling Awami League’s government sent the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to jail on a five-year sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
Speaking at the protest programme, Fakhrul said the Awami League-led government has become ‘detached from people and politically bankrupt.’
The government filed fake cases against BNP vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and against nearly 1.5 million BNP leaders and activists, the BNP leader added.
Fakhrul also called upon the BNP leaders to continue the peaceful movement, upholding democratic values.
Speaking at the sit-in, BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said Khaleda Zia was sent to jail illegally.
BNP would not contest in the general elections without Khaleda Zia.
“Support for the BNP chief has been strengthened further and she has become an international leader. The people of the country wouldn’t let the next elections be held without Khaleda Zia and BNP,” said Khandaker Mosharraf.
As part of the country-wide protest, other leaders of the BNP-led alliance attended in the sit-in.