Bangladesh's former PM Khaleda Zia arrives in London for treatment, reunites with son after seven years

The 79-year-old former premier, who is suffering from multiple diseases, arrived onboard a Qatari Royal Air Ambulance for medical treatment, her first overseas trip since July 16, 2017, when she travelled to London for treatment.

London/Dhaka: Khaleda Zia, Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and former prime minister, had an emotional reunion with her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, at the Heathrow International Airport on Wednesday after more than seven years of separation.

The 79-year-old former premier, who is suffering from multiple diseases, arrived here onboard a Qatari Royal Air Ambulance for medical treatment, her first overseas trip since July 16, 2017, when she travelled to London for treatment.

"The air ambulance carrying her landed at Heathrow International Airport in London at 2:55 pm (Bangladesh time)," BNP Media Cell member Shairul Kabir Khan quoted Zia's physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain as saying.

Bangladesh's acting High Commissioner in London, Mohammad Hazrat Ali Khan, welcomed the former prime minister with a bouquet at the airport, the state-run BSS news agency reported.

She was received by her son Rahman, the acting chairperson of the BNP, and his wife, Zubaida, at the airport, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

Zia, who served as the premier thrice, met her son Rahman for the first time since 2017 as the past government did not allow her to visit abroad, citing legal complications. Rahman, convicted in a number of criminal and graft cases, has been living in London since 2008.

The air ambulance, which left Dhaka on Tuesday, made a stopover in Doha en route to London.

Zia left home for treatment in the UK, months after a court scrapped her conviction on graft charges following the ouster of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s regime in a student-led upsurge in August.

The special plane equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities, including an ICU, was provided by the Emir of Qatar for the ailing Bangladeshi leader.

Media reports said the special air ambulance also carried four Royal Qatari doctors and paramedics while several Bangladeshi doctors were accompanying her as well alongside her younger daughter-in-law and some other relatives.

"She will be directly admitted to the London Clinic from the Heathrow Airport,” one of her accompanying doctors, AZM Zahid Hossain, said, adding that the doctors at the facility would assess her health and determine her next course of treatment.

Doctors have been advocating for her treatment abroad since late 2021, a call denied by the previous Hasina government. A day after the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, Zia was freed under a presidential order.

She was sentenced to 17 years in prison for graft in 2018 under the rule of Hasina.

Zia had been imprisoned for more than two years. On March 25, 2020, the Hasina government suspended her sentence and granted her conditional release through an executive order. Subsequently, the government extended her sentence suspension and release period every six months, upon application.

Since then, she has been frequently admitted to a specialized private hospital with multiple complaints, including cardiac ailments.

Zia appeared in public on November 21, 2024, at Dhaka Cantonment to join Bangladesh’s Armed Forces Day reception at the invitation of the Chief Adviser of the interim government Muhammad Yunus.