BNP Chairperson and former three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia has passed away. She breathed her last while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka at 6am on Tuesday. She was 80.
As Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia was arrested and imprisoned numerous times during her political career, but she never fled the country. In Bangladesh’s politics, she became known as an uncompromising leader.
Prison Life
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was arrested five times during her political career — three times during the anti-Ershad dictatorship movement, once under the military-backed caretaker government of Moeen Uddin-Fakhruddin in 2007, and once during the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.
Arrests during the Anti-Ershad Movement
After joining politics on 3 January, 1982, Khaleda Zia was arrested three times during the anti-Ershad movement — 28 November, 1983; 3 May, 1984; and 11 November, 1987. However, she was not arrested for long.
Arrest under Caretaker Government in 2007
In 2007, after the military-backed caretaker government took power, Khaleda Zia was arrested and had to remain in prison for more than a year.
After her government’s term ended in 2006, the scheduled 2007 election was delayed due to political violence and internal conflict, leading to the caretaker government’s takeover. During this period, Khaleda Zia and her two sons — BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman — were accused of corruption.
On 3 September, 2007, police arrested her from her residence on Mainul Road in the cantonment in connection with a corruption case. She was taken directly to the CMM Court, where her lawyers applied for bail, but the court rejected it. She was then confined to a special sub-jail set up in the Jatiya Sangsad area.
While in prison, she spent Eid-ul-Fitr on 14 October, 2007, inside jail. On Eid day, ten family members including the wives and children of Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman visited her. They brought new clothes, special food, and flowers. At that time, both her sons Tarique Rahman and the late Arafat Rahman were also in jail.
Later, she spent Eid-ul-Adha on 21 December, 2007, in the same sub-jail. On 18 January, 2008, her mother passed away in Dinajpur. The next day, her mother’s body was brought to her Mainul Road residence by helicopter. Khaleda Zia was released on parole for six hours to see her mother’s body.
On 1 June, 2008, she was produced in court after nearly nine months. On 11 September, 2008, after spending 372 days in the sub-jail, she was released on bail.
Prison Life under Sheikh Hasina’s Government
In 2018, Khaleda Zia was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case and the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case. On 8 February, 2018, she was sent to jail. Initially, she was confined in the old Dhaka Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road. Later, due to health reasons, she was kept at then BSMMU Hospital. For more than two years, she was effectively imprisoned.
On 25 March, 2020, the government conditionally released her by suspending her sentence, allowing her to receive treatment at home. However, this was not full freedom—it was more like house arrest under legal conditions. She remained politically confined until the student-led mass uprising of 2024.
Following the July uprising, the President of Bangladesh pardoned her sentence by executive order, granting her release. On 27 November, 2024, Khaleda Zia was acquitted of the corruption charges.
