Bangladesh’s first female PM passes away

Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia, who served two terms in office and was also twice the leader of the opposition, died on Tuesday at the age of 80, her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said, according to dpa, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

“BNP chairperson and former prime minister and national leader Begum Khaleda Zia passed away today at 6 a.m. (00:00 GMT), shortly after the Fajr prayer,” the BNP wrote on X.

Zia was the country’s first female prime minister, serving two five-year terms from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. Last month, the BNP said she planned to run in next year’s national elections.

The 80-year-old leader, who had been battling multiple health problems, had largely withdrawn from public life in recent years due to illness and two corruption convictions.

She spent more than four years in prison after being convicted in two corruption cases in 2018 and sentenced to 17 years in jail. In 2022, she was released on health grounds but was barred from traveling abroad and from engaging in political activities. Her party maintained that the charges were politically motivated.

Interim government chief Muhammad Yunus announced in a televised address that three days of national mourning had been declared to mark her death, and that Wednesday, the day of her funeral, would be a public holiday.

The BNP also announced a seven-day mourning period, with black flags to be flown at party offices nationwide. Deputy secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said special prayers would be held across the country.

Zia “was not just the leader of a political party, but an important chapter in Bangladesh’s history,” Yunus said. “With her death, the nation has lost a great guardian.”

Nicknamed an “unyielding leader” during the anti-autocracy movement of the 1990s, Khaleda Zia led the BNP for 41 years.

Supporters credit her with standing up to military dictatorship and political rivals, while critics say her time in office was marred by corruption allegations, political violence and authoritarian tendencies.

Her journey from housewife to the country’s first female head of government is closely intertwined with Bangladesh’s turbulent political history. Born on August 15, 1945, in Dinajpur district, she married Ziaur Rahman in 1960, a hero of the 1971 war of independence who later became army chief and president.

As reported by CE Report, supporters gathered outside a hospital in the capital on Tuesday morning, braving rain and cold to pay their respects.

Her doctor said earlier in December that she should be transferred to the United Kingdom. Her health deteriorated during her imprisonment for corruption under the rule of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who governed Bangladesh for 15 years before being ousted in August 2024.