Ailing former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to leave for London for medical treatment

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh’s ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is leaving for London on Tuesday night for medical treatment, her aides said, leaving behind a nation grappling with uncertainty over its political future after her archrival, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August.

An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been running the country since then and plans to hold elections either in December 2025 or in the first half of next year.

Zia was sentenced to 17 years in jail under Hasina’s rule in two corruption cases stemming from 2001-2006, when she was prime minister. Her supporters say the charges against her were politically motivated, an allegation Hasina’s administration denied. Under Yunus, Zia was acquitted in one of the cases in November and an appeal in the second case was heard on Tuesday.

Zia's aides said she will leave the capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday night aboard a special air ambulance sent by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Hundreds of her supporters gathered on Tuesday outside her residence in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan area to see her off.

Her planned departure follows dramatic political developments since last August, when Hasina’s 15-year rule ended. She fled into exile in India as she and her close aides faced charges of killing hundreds of protesters during a mass protest movement that began in July.

Enamul Haque Chowdhury, a close aide of Zia, told reporters that the air ambulance had arrived from Doha to take her to London, where her eldest son and heir apparent Tarique Rahman has been in exile since 2007. Rahman is the acting chairman of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and is expected to lead the party toward the election. The country’s dynastic politics have long focused on the families of Hasina and Zia.

Zia’s personal physician, A.Z.M. Zahid Hossain, said Qatar’s emir arranged the special aircraft with medical facilities for the former prime minister.

Zia’s physicians and her party have long demanded that the 79-year-old leader be allowed to travel abroad for treatment of ailments including liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease, kidney problems and other health complications.

Zia's party has been bargaining with the Yunus-led government for a quick election. The party initially demanded an election in three months, but later said it wants to allow the interim government more time, but not a long period, to hold the election. The party is now pressing for an election sometime this year.

Yunus said his government wants to make some major reforms before the election.