Another Awami League leader dies in B’desh prison; party alleges torture, denial of treatment
Dhaka, Sep 3 (IANS) As custodial deaths of Awami League members continue to rise in Bangladesh, another party leader died after falling ill while in custody at Chattogram Central Jail, according to local media reports.
The deceased, 55-year-old Nur Islam, general secretary of the Awami League’s unit in Mirsarai Municipality, died on Wednesday afternoon.
Following a complaint of chest pain, he was initially taken to the prison hospital, before being shifted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Confirming the death, Md Iqbal Hossain, senior jail superintendent of Chattogram Central Jail, told leading Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star that Nurul was recently sent to jail after being arrested in a case filed under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.
He developed chest pain on Wednesday afternoon and was taken to prison hospital by jail guards.
“As his condition deteriorated, he was later transferred to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), where doctors declared him dead,” Iqbal said.
Speaking to Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo, Rokeya Akhter, the wife of the deceased Nurul, said that the Mirsarai police station recently arrested her husband in connection with a political case and subsequently sent him to prison through court order.
He was granted bail in that case on August 31, but was arrested again at the prison gate the following day in another case and taken back to prison. The repeated arrest took a severe toll on his mental health, said Rokeya
“Despite his involvement in politics, my husband never harmed anyone. He was already physically ill. He died due to mental torture and torture after being imprisoned in a false case. My two young children became orphans after losing their father,” Prothom Alo quoted her as saying.
Describing Nurul’s death as a glaring indictment of the ongoing “mass killing” of citizens associated with the Awami League, the party said that he had not been convicted of any crime but remained imprisoned for over a month.
It alleged that police arbitrarily detained him because of his affiliation with the Awami League and kept him behind bars for more than 30 days in Chittagong jail despite his critical health condition.
The party further alleged that Nurul was denied proper medical treatment and subjected to torture before he died on Wednesday.
“No bail, denial of medical treatment and torture killing arbitrarily detained party activists inside jails, worst even rights abuses legitimised under extrajudicial ban on Awami League. While convicted terrorists and extremists are released from jail on bail, cops are now abusing the draconian anti-terror law to detain, torture and kill political dissenters in jail with impunity,” it stated.
The Awami League further said that the “deliberate killing of political activists inside prisons is going with impunity, instigated by the silence of the UN and global rights bodies.”
–IANS
scor/sd/