Khaleda Zia released: Bangabhaban

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was released today, a day after her archrival Sheikh Hasina was ousted and the military took responsibility.

A press release from Bangabhaban said Khaleda Zia was release following a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the chiefs of the three services, leaders of different political parties, representatives of civil society and leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.

The 79-year-old former prime minister has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

Since her conditional release from prison in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving medical care repeatedly at the hospital under the supervision of a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.

Khaleda‍‍`s doctors have been advising to send her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years‍‍` imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.