Khaleda Under Close Observation

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, was taken back to the coronary care unit (CCU) of the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka as her health condition deteriorated early Sunday. Early Sunday speaking to the media, Khaleda Zia’s personal physician, AZM Zahid Hossain, said that due to the deterioration in her condition, she was urgently admitted to the hospital.

He said that a medical board, comprising specialists, was overseeing her treatment. Earlier in the night, BNP media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan told reporters that at about 1:30am, doctors did some urgent tests due to the deterioration of Khaleda Zia’s physical condition and decided to take her to the hospital.

Khaleda Zia’s health condition also turned critical on Wednesday, prompting the medical board members to visit her at Gulshan house and conduct some tests. On March 13, Khaleda’s health was examined at Evercare Hospital while she was undergoing treatment at the health facility.

Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital on August 9 last year. BNP Chairperson returned to Gulshan’s home on January 11 after more than five months of treatment. At that time, her family appealed to the government to take the former PM abroad for better treatment, but to no avail. The BNP chairperson, convicted in two corruption cases, was imprisoned on February 8, 2018.

The three-time former prime minister was imprisoned for more than two years. Khaleda was sent to the old Dhaka jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later in the same year, she was found guilty in another corruption case. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

The suspension of her sentencing has since been extended multiple times to keep her out of jail.