Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Touhid Hossain has stated that BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia will return home from London soon after completing her medical treatment. An air ambulance is being arranged for her.
He made these remarks to journalists on Tuesday (April 29).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on this matter. The Foreign Affairs Advisor informed that the air ambulance is being prepared.
Earlier, the BNP had sent a letter to the government requesting the arrangement of an air ambulance to bring Begum Khaleda Zia back to Dhaka from London.
Last week, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir wrote a letter to the interim government's Foreign Affairs Advisor, Md. Touhid Hossain.
In the letter, he stated that former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is currently in London for advanced medical treatment. Her physical condition is stable but not "risk-free." Nevertheless, she has expressed her desire to return home in the last week of April. Considering her physical condition, doctors have advised her to return home in a special air ambulance.
It is worth noting that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was sentenced to imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases. She was imprisoned on February 8, 2018. After being imprisoned for over two years, the government suspended her sentence on March 25, 2020, under an executive order, granting her temporary conditional release. Since then, the government has been extending the term of her release by suspending her sentence every six months upon application.
Following the fall of the Awami League government due to mass movements on August 5th, Khaleda Zia was released under an executive order. The BNP then began the process of taking her abroad for advanced medical treatment.
The 79-year-old former Prime Minister suffers from various complications including liver cirrhosis, heart disease, lung problems, arthritis, kidney issues, and diabetes. She has received prolonged treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, with specialist medical boards overseeing her care in the ICU on several occasions. After the fall of the government following student and public protests, she returned home on August 21st, after a month of treatment at Evercare Hospital.
