Bangladesh News

The caretaker government’s June 9 decision to give a blanket amnesty to convicts who already served a half of their prison terms was changed recently.

The change in the decision came after the government had been awaken by the jail authorities to the pernicious side of the blanket amnesty which would create opportunities for convicted Islamist terrorists of banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Harkatul Jihad al-Islami to be free if they had already served a half of their terms of imprisonment.

According to the latest decision only the convicts who already served a half of their prison terms of seven years or less for minor offences will be eligible for the amnesty.

“Convicts who are in prisons for sedition, terrorism, murder, robbery, repression of women and children, and in connection with explosives and firearms cases will not be considered for the amnesty,” Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (DIG-Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told The Daily Star adding, “Minor offences include theft, suspected stealing and snatching.”

He also said, “People who were convicted in more than one cases will also not be eligible for the amnesty.”

Meanwhile, the authorities of different jails already have sent names of 1,600 convicts to the home ministry with recommendations for amnesty, among whom many do not qualify for it under the changed decision.

Inspector General of Prisons (IG-Prisons) Brig Gen Zakir Hassan yesterday told The Daily Star, “Although the jail authorities have sent lists of about 1,600 convicts for amnesty, the home ministry will scrutinise those and take the final decision about who will be freed.”

Even after the change in the earlier decision the number of convicts eligible for the amnesty might increase, as all jails could not send their recommendations yet, jail sources said.

The government took the decision to free some of the convicts under special consideration due to accommodation problems in jails.

According to the sources, the present number of convicts in the 67 jails across the country is 29,000 while the total number of prisoners was 87,500 yesterday. The country’s jails have a total capacity for incarcerating 27,386 persons at a time.

The sources said the government already sent a new order to jail authorities asking them to send the names of only those convicts who were convicted for minor offences and were sentenced for seven years or less.

The IG of prisons said in every jail the authorities formed a committee led by the district magistrate while the district superintendent of police (SP), the jail super, the district public prosecutor (PP), and a social welfare official are the members of the committees.

“The district magistrates have been sending the lists of names to the ministry while several jails have yet to send their recommendations,” the IG added.

The DIG of prisons said, “Names of 63 convicts from Dhaka Central Jail and of 93 from Kashimpur Jail have been sent for consideration. But the lists from other jails in Dhaka division haven’t been sent yet.”

DIG-Prisons of Rajshahi Division Maj Md Hafijur Rahman Mollah told The Daily Star yesterday, “We sent names of 978 convicts,” adding, “We had sent the list before the government changed its earlier decision.”

According to the sources, soon after the present caretaker government came to power, it released about 900 convicts.

Besides, on occasions of Eids, the government freed another 500 convicts last year.