Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan has come to the attention of Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan’s main report published in Daily Desh Parwan today about Sharifa Begum, who has been in the death cell (condem cell) for nearly 24 years after being sentenced to death in a murder case. The Chief Justice has taken the initiative to hear Sharif’s appeal quickly.
Mohammad Saifur Rahman, Registrar of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, informed Desh Parwanm about this information in the morning and said, ‘The report has come to the notice of the Honorable Chief Justice. He has taken the initiative of speedy hearing of the appeal case. There will be a hearing in this regard next week.’
Today, on Monday, Desh Parwan newspaper published news under the title of ‘A woman’s 24 years of execution day’. It is said that Sharifa Begum went to jail in a murder case 26 years ago. The trial of Sharifa, who has been on ‘death row’ for almost 24 years of his 55-year-old life, is not over yet.
After his arrest in 1998, he was sentenced to death by a judicial court in October 2000. Since then he is imprisoned in the death cell (condem cell). His sentence was upheld in the High Court in 2003. Even after 21 years, there was no information about the settlement of his appeal. Courts, prison authorities, attorney general’s office did not think about Sharifa being in the hanging cell for a long time. This woman did not know whether she was guilty or innocent.
According to prison officials, no other female convict in the history of the prison had to stay in the death cell for such a long time. No information was found whether any woman was in prison for such a long time (26 years). Like Sharifa, Abdus Samad Azad alias Samad of Jamalpur has been in the death cell for the last 24 years in the same case. He is probably the only male convict in prison history to spend so long on death row.
The report also said that since 2016, Sharifa has been in the hanging cell of Kashimpur Central Women’s Jail in Gazipur. Before that, he was in Dhaka Central Jail (now in Keraniganj) on Nazim Uddin Road in Old Dhaka. His village home is in Shahbazpur village of Sarail in Brahmanbaria. Husband was in jail for a long time. Obaidullah (60) got married elsewhere long ago. He doesn’t look for anything. Son Arid Mia (35) works as a driver’s assistant in a local bus transport. Family members have reduced contact with Sharif due to financial instability and no possibility of release. When Sharifa’s son and daughter were contacted recently in Brahmanbaria, they said that their mother has been framed in this case. They left the matter of the mother to fate.