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Khaleda Zia
An air ambulance arranged to fly Bangladesh's critically ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia to London for medical treatment will land in Dhaka on Tuesday, aviation officials said on Sunday. A senior official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said the aircraft has been allotted an 8 am landing slot on Tuesday, with a departure time of 9 pm the same day, news portal bdnews24.com reported. According to tbsnews.net, the Qatar government has arranged the aircraft, renting it from the Germany-based FAI Aviation Group after opting for a replacement air ambulance to conduct the long-range medical evacuation. FAI Aviation Group's initial application had sought clearance to land on Tuesday and depart for London on Wednesday. Zia, the 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, has been receiving treatment for multiple ailments at Dhaka-based Evercare Hospital for nearly two weeks. The three-time prime minister was originally expected to leave early Frid
The medical board treating critically ill Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Saturday postponed her planned travel to London for an indefinite period, her personal physician said. The three-time premier Zia was scheduled to depart for London on Sunday after her plan to leave on Friday was postponed as an air ambulance offered by Qatar could not reach Dhaka due to technical issues. Media reports suggested Doha later rented an alternative aircraft from Germany. The medical board thinks it is not appropriate for her to travel abroad at this moment," Dr AZM Zahid Hossain her personal physician and also a member of the party's policy-making standing committee, told reporters. He added that doctors continued their highest-level efforts to arrange Zia's treatment abroad, while a medical ambulance was fully ready to fly her abroad whenever the situation suits her travel. "Allah has cured her from even more serious conditions in the past. The medical board is confident that .
Security was tightened around Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday as a specialist medical team from China joined efforts to treat the ailing politician, who remains in a highly critical condition at a private hospital in Dhaka. Police erected a barricade at the main gate of Evercare Hospital around 2 am, with hospital sources saying more than two dozen personnel have been deployed to regulate patients' movement and reinforce Zia's security, The Daily Star newspaper reported. The 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson was admitted to the hospital on November 23 after being diagnosed with infections affecting her heart and lungs. Four days later, the three-time prime minister was shifted to the coronary care unit after several of her health complications worsened. Her condition deteriorated further, and she was placed on ventilation on Sunday night, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan said on Monday. A five-member specialist team from
Bangladesh's ailing former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, who has been living in self-exile in London for over a decade, is preparing to return home soon, a senior leader of her party has said. The development comes as the 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson remains in a critical condition and has been placed on ventilation. BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters late Monday that the party's acting chairman Rahman will return to Bangladesh soon. His remarks followed a meeting of the BNP's top decision-making body, which also discussed the current political situation and strategies for the upcoming election campaign, The Daily Star reported on Tuesday. BNP has re-emerged as the frontrunner in Bangladesh's changed political landscape after a student-led violent street protest toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on August 5, 2024 According to BNP leaders, Tarique, who has been in London si
Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia is "extremely unwell" and she has been placed on ventilation, with both local and international medical specialists overseeing her treatment, her party leaders said on Monday. Zia, the 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, was admitted to a private hospital on November 23 when she developed a chest infection that affected both her heart and lungs. Four days later, the three-time prime minister was shifted to the coronary care unit after several of her health complications worsened. Her condition has deteriorated, and she was put on ventilation, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan was quoted as saying by news portal tbsnews.net. "She is in a very critical condition. There is nothing more to do except seek prayers from the whole nation," he told reporters outside Evercare Hospital here. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also confirmed that Zia remains in a critical condition as she continues
Bangladesh's ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday returned to the country from London after four months of medical treatment, according to a media report. Zia went to London on January 8 for advanced medical care and was admitted to The London Clinic. After being discharged from the clinic, the BNP chairperson moved to her eldest son Tarique Rahman's residence, where she has been receiving treatment. An air ambulance sent by the Qatari emir carrying Khaleda and her two daughters-in-law Tarique Rahman's wife Zubaida Rahman and the late Arafat Rahman Coco's wife Syeda Sharmila Rahman landed in Dhaka around 10:30 am, bdnews24 reported. The plane had departed from London's Heathrow Airport at 4:20 pm local time. Tarique had driven his mother to the airport and seen her off, according to Khaleda's private physician, Prof AZM Zahid Hossain. The 79-year-old three-time prime minister has long suffered from liver cirrhosis, kidney disease, heart problems, diabetes, and ...
A court in Bangladesh acquitted BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Wednesday in a sabotage case filed in the southeastern Cumilla district 10 years ago. Additional District and Session Judge Court-2 of Cumilla Afroza Jesmin passed the order as there was no evidence against 79-year-old Zia, who is now undergoing treatment in London, the state-run BSS news agency reported. The court observed that the case was filed on political grounds and harassment, the agency said. The case was filed against 32 people, including Zia, in the Special Powers Act, 1974, at Chouddagram Police Station in Cumilla in connection with damaging and setting fire to a covered van during a strike on January 25, 2015. Zia was the 32nd accused in the case. No specific evidence was found against Zia and she has been acquitted, Public Prosecutor Kaimul Haque Rinku was quoted as saying by bdnews24 news portal. He added that 32 people were named in the FIR, but 42 people were charged afterwards
Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case, overturning the High Court's earlier 10-year prison sentence. The verdict was delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed after reviewing 79-year-old Zia's appeal against the High Court's ruling on Wednesday, the Dhaka Tribune reported. The Supreme Court acquitted Zia, the party's Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and all other suspects in their appeal over the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, the report added. The Appellate Division noted that the case was motivated by revenge. Zia was sentenced on February 8, 2018, by Dhaka's Special Judge Court-5 to five years of imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of government funds in the name of the Zia Orphanage Trust. The same verdict handed down 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for five other accused, including Zia's son Tarique and former chief secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Each of the accused
Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia was admitted to a specialised hospital in London on Wednesday for advanced treatment, her party said. Earlier, the 79-year-old chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had an emotional reunion with her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, at the Heathrow International Airport after more than seven years of separation. Begum Khaleda Zia was admitted to the London Clinic under Professor Patrick Kennedy at 6.30 pm (BST), BNP Media Cell member Shairul Kabir Khan quoted Khaleda Zia's personal physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain as saying. Zia was driven to the London Clinic directly from Heathrow Airport by her son and BNP acting chairman Rahman. Rahman's wife Dr Zubaida Rahman accompanied them. Bangladeshi physicians, who accompanied the former premier to London, handed over treatment related documents to the doctors of the London Clinic, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said. Later, the physicians of the clin
Bangladesh's ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia left the nation's capital for London on Tuesday for medical treatment, said one of her advisers. Zahiruddin Swapan, an adviser to Zia, told The Associated Press by phone that the three-time former premier and also the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport late Tuesday on an air ambulance. Our senior leaders left the airport seeing her off, Swapan said. Zia's motorcade took nearly three hours to cross about a 10-kilometer stretch of road to get to the airport from her residence in Dhaka's Gulshan area as thousands of her desperate supporters greeted her on the way, creating traffic chaos. Her hours-long journey to the airport was broadcast live by television stations. An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is running the country and plans to hold elections in December this year or in the first half of 2026. Zia was sentenced to 17 years in jail und
Bangladesh's interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has announced that it has decided to prepare a proclamation of July uprising, a day after it distanced itself from a proposed declaration with an identical title by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that led to an upheaval four months ago. We hope within few days the proclamation will be prepared with the participation and consensus of all and presented before the nation, Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, told reporters in a midnight press conference. Addressing reporters in front of Yunus' official Jamuna residence, Alam said the declaration would be based on the views of all participating students, political parties, and stakeholders, including the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League regime on August 5. Alam said the government took the initiative to prepare the proposed ...
Bangladesh's High Court on Sunday acquitted former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, and 48 others, overturning their verdicts in a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. The ruling comes at a critical time as the South Asian country suffers political tension after longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country to India in August following a mass uprising that left hundreds dead. Rahman serves as the acting chairperson of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party while in self-exile in London, and could become Bangladesh's next leader if his party is voted into power. Rahman and the 48 others were found guilty in 2018 in the attack targeting a rally held by supporters of Hasina, who led the opposition at the time, leaving two dozen people dead and wounding about 300 others. A court sentenced 19 of them to death while Rahman got life in prison, with Zia's party accusing the ruling counterpart of being politically motivated. A two-member judge panel scrappe
Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case in which she was sentenced to seven years in jail by a lower court, according to media reports. Zia, 79, was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in 2018 by a Dhaka court. It also sentenced her to seven years imprisonment under the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government and fined her Tk 1 million. A bench of Justices AKM Asaduzzaman and Syed Enayet Hossain overturned the decision based on an appeal by Zia, the bdnews24.com news portal reported. Two others accused in the case were also acquitted by the court. The graft case was filed in 2011 by the Anti-Corruption Commission with Tejgaon Police Station, accusing Zia and three others of abusing power to raise funds for the trust from unknown sources, the Daily Star news portal reported. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson was lodged in the Old Dhaka Central Jail