Khaleda Zia flies to UK for treatment on air ambulance sent by Qatar

Published: 08 January 2025

NT Bureau

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s ailing leader of the Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia, left Dhaka for the UK late on Tuesday for advanced treatment on her first foreign visit since 2017, according to the party’s media wing, Anadolu Agency reports.

Thousands of followers gathered on the route to the Dhaka airport causing hours-long traffic jams.
Zia, 79, will reach London through Doha on a special air ambulance sent by the Amir of Qatar, said the media wing. Her son, Tarique Rahman, lives in the UK.

Qatar’s Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is expected to meet Zia during a stopover in Doha, the report adds.

Zia was under house arrest since 2020 but was released after the fall of her political archival, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose government ended Aug. 5 following a mass uprising led by students.
In 2018, Zia was put in jail after she was given a five-year jail sentence.

The transitional government in Dhaka said separately on Tuesday that it canceled the passports of 97 people, including Hasina, who lives in India, on charges of mass killing and forced disappearances.