Bangladesh has released Begum Khaleda Zia, the 78-year-old chair of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), from house arrest. President Mohammed Shahabuddin announced the decision on Tuesday, a move that follows substantial public pressure and calls from a student-led national movement.<\/p>\n
Khaleda Zia, who served as Bangladesh\u2019s Prime Minister on two separate occasions\u20141991 to 1996 and 2001 to 2006\u2014was initially convicted of corruption in 2018 and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Following her conviction, Zia\u2019s health deteriorated, leading to her transfer to a hospital a year later. She has consistently denied the corruption charges against her.<\/p>\n
The timing of her release is particularly notable as it coincides with the resignation and flight of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Zia\u2019s return to prominence comes as General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the army chief, meets with student leaders to discuss forming an interim government that will oversee forthcoming elections.<\/p>\n
Khaleda Zia\u2019s return also follows a significant political shift, including the dissolution of Parliament and an apology from the police association for their actions against students during recent protests. As part of a political compromise, Zia\u2019s two sons, who faced corruption accusations during her second term, have relocated to the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
In her first public speech since 2018, delivered via a video link at the BNP rally in Nayapaltan, she announced her vision for Bangladesh to be rebuilt on principles of \u201clove and peace.\u201d Her release marks a pivotal moment in the country\u2019s political landscape as it prepares for future elections and a potential shift in governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Begum Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and leader of the BNP, one day after her release from house arrest, said that \u201clove and peace\u201d should guide the nation\u2019s efforts to rebuild, rather than \u201canger and revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":29163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[521,2618,16590,6889,16162,8048,16589,16591,4042,13623],"class_list":["post-29150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bangladesh","tag-bangladesh","tag-bnp","tag-corruption-case","tag-house-arrest","tag-interim-government","tag-khaleda-zia","tag-political-reform","tag-president-mohammed-shahabuddin","tag-sheikh-hasina","tag-student-protests"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}