Ailing Bangladeshi ex-PM flown to London for treatment

DHAKA: Ailing former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia has flown to London for medical treatment, a party spokesman said, months after a student-led revolution ousted a government that had prevented her from travelling abroad.

Zia, 79, served as prime minister of the South Asian nation twice but was jailed for corruption in 2018 during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, her successor and lifelong rival.

Hasina’s toppling and exile to neighbouring India after the August revolt against her autocratic government prompted Zia’s release from house arrest.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan confirmed her departure shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

Zia was seen leaving her residence in a car for the airport in the capital Dhaka, where she departed on a chartered flight provided by the Emir of Qatar.

State news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha quoted her doctors as saying that her treatment in London was expected to take a few months.

Zia has been in declining health for years, is confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis, and also suffers from diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver.

Hasina’s government consistently refused requests for Zia to travel abroad for treatment after her conviction.

She has barely been seen in public since her release. Her last appearance was at an event to mark Armed Forces Day in November, where she appeared frail.

AZM Zahid Hossain, Zia’s personal physician and a member of the BNP’s standing committee, said she may also receive treatment at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in the United States after her stay in London.

“A three-member team from Johns Hopkins treated her in 2023 and recommended a liver transplant there,” he told reporters.

London is also the adopted home of her son Tarique Rahman, who has lived abroad since 2008 after fleeing his own set of convictions on corruption and other offences.

Tarique has had several of his convictions quashed since Hasina’s ouster and he is widely expected to return to his home country to lead the BNP to fresh elections slated for next year.