“The Battle of Politics and the Defeat of Humanity: Saddam’s Cry for Life in the Prison of Memory”.

In politics, there is power, titles and numerous followers. But at the end of the day, when a person is alone, his existence and family become larger than his identity. What happened to Bagerhat Sadar Upazila Chhatra League President Jewel Hasan Saddam is not just a legal process; Rather, it is a human tragedy—one that will remain a dark chapter of our times.
This is probably the cruelest scene in the world – where a father and a husband cannot say goodbye to their wife and child. The police recovered the hanging body of Saddam’s wife Kaniz Suborna Swarnali in the house of former Danga in Sadar Upazila of Bagerhat on January 23. The frozen body of their 9-month-old son Sejad Hasan Nazif was lying next to him. According to the police, Swarnali committed suicide after killing her child due to extreme depression.
Saddam was arrested after the fall of the government on August 5, 2024 and was imprisoned in Jessore Central Jail. Although the relatives demanded release on parole, the law was as hard as a rock that day. As a result, on the evening of January 24, the frozen bodies of the wife and child were brought to the jail gate on cots. From behind the iron bars of the prison, Saddam saw the ruins of his arranged world for only 5 minutes. This inhuman scene of displaying dead bodies at the jail gate sparked widespread criticism on social media.
Saddam was finally released on bail on January 28, four days after burying his wife and children. After being released from prison, he immediately ran to the grave of his wife and children in Aruabarni village of Kachua upazila of Bagerhat. Saddam’s lamentation has gone viral on social media. Eyewitnesses said that he was lamenting while clutching the soil of the grave:
“Father, I have come back, why are you not speaking? Can’t I be forgiven once? I could not hold you even once, father. O Allah, to whom shall I go? My house is now dark! I have given you the judgment of those who did not allow my wife and children to come to me for the last time.”
He added, “If I was guilty, I would have been punished,But what was wrong with my innocent child and wife? The last time I wanted to touch a little, God did not give me that chance. Now what do I do with this release? My whole world lies beneath this earth.”
The question arises – the bail that was granted after a few days, could it not have been a few days earlier in human terms? These ‘free skies’ are meaningless to Saddam today when the children and wives he wanted to be free for are in their graves.
Saddam is free today, but he was probably imprisoned forever in the prison of his own memory. This incident is a clear proof of how mechanized our legal and administrative structures can be at times. Politics or crime—let the law take its course, but humanity should never wait for the law to see a frozen body in the jailgate. Saddam’s release is actually a long-winded story.Which will remain a sad cry in the pages of history.