(7 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 07 January 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Khaleda Zia’s motorcade exiting her residence, surrounded by crowd of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) supporters and journalists
2. Various of Zia inside car along with another woman
3. Zia’s motorcade moving away
4. Various of supporters gathered outside residence
STORYLINE:
Bangladesh’s ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia left the nation’s capital on Tuesday for medical treatment in London, according to one of her advisers.
The adviser told The Associated Press that the three-time former premier and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport late Tuesday on an air ambulance sent by the emir of Qatar.
Zia’s motorcade took nearly three hours to cross about a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of road to get to the airport from her residence in Dhaka’s Gulshan area as thousands of her supporters greeted her on the way.
Her hours-long journey to the airport was broadcast live by television stations.
The 79-year-old left behind a South Asian 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 is running the country and plans to hold elections in December this year or in the first half of 2026.
Zia and Hasina are the most influential political leaders in Bangladesh.
Zia was sentenced to 17 years in jail under Hasina’s rule following 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 being heard on Tuesday.
Zia was freed from prison on bail under Hasina through a government order and had been undergoing medical treatment in Bangladesh.
Zia’s ailments included liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease and kidney problems, according to her physician.
But Hasina’s administration did not allow her to travel abroad for treatment despite requests seeking approval.
Zia’s eldest son and heir apparent, Tarique Rahman, has been living in exile in London since 2007.
Rahman is the acting chairman of Zia’s party and is expected to lead the party toward the election.
AP Video by Al Emrun Garjon
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