Dipu Moni Granted 12-Hour Parole to Attend Husband Tawfique Nawaz’s Funeral
Former education minister will be released from Munshiganj jail under police escort to attend funeral rites for her husband, Tawfique Nawaz
Former education minister and Awami League joint general secretary Dipu Moni has been granted 12-hour parole to attend the funeral of her husband, Tawfique Nawaz, who died on Tuesday night while undergoing treatment in Dhaka.
Munshiganj District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner Syeda Nurmahal Ashrafi approved Moni’s parole application, allowing her to leave Munshiganj District Jail from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, her lawyer Gazi Faisal Islam said on Wednesday.
Islam told reporters outside the deputy commissioner’s office that the family had initially sought four days of parole but received approval for 12 hours.
“We had applied for a four-day parole. The deputy commissioner has approved a 12-hour parole,” Islam said.
Moni will be taken from the jail under police escort at 6 a.m. and will first go to her residence in Kalabagan, Dhaka, where her husband’s body is scheduled to be taken.
The body will later be taken to Azad Mosque in Gulshan for the janaza after Zuhr prayers before burial at Banani Graveyard, according to the family’s decision.
Tawfique Nawaz died at 10:27 p.m. on Tuesday at Continental Hospital in Gulshan, where he had been receiving treatment. He had suffered from complications involving his kidneys and liver and had been admitted to the hospital a few days earlier after his condition deteriorated.
Moni has been held at Munshiganj District Jail and faces several cases related to killings during the July mass uprising. The Awami League’s activities are currently banned.
According to her lawyer, Moni has spent two years in prison. He said she had repeatedly sought permission to meet her husband outside prison while he was ill but had not been granted permission.
Following Nawaz’s death, Moni’s daughter, Tani Dipaboli, and Islam went to Munshiganj District Jail on Wednesday morning to seek her release on parole. Dipaboli met her mother before they went to the deputy commissioner’s office to submit the application.
Islam said the parole had been granted under provisions of prison law and regulations that allow for 12-hour parole during daylight hours, with the district magistrate having the authority to approve such requests.
“We received this parole legally. The government could have granted parole for a longer period if it wanted to,” he said.
