Khaleda Zia Freed by Presidential Order Hours After Sheikh Hasina Ousted

In a dramatic turn of events, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia shortly after her rival, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted and fled the country. This significant development was reported by Al Jazeera.

In a statement issued on Monday, the president’s press team announced that a meeting led by Shahabuddin had “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately.”

“The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests,” the president’s statement added.

The meeting included prominent leaders from various opposition parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, as well as the Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman and the heads of the navy and air force.

Khaleda Zia, 78, a former Bangladeshi prime minister, has been confined to a hospital due to her deteriorating health. In 2018, she was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Zia and Hasina have had a long-standing rivalry, with Zia accused of misusing her authority to embezzle nearly USD 250,000 intended for a trust for orphans. The BNP has claimed these charges were fabricated to keep Zia out of politics, a claim that Hasina’s administration denied.

Since last month, more than 2,000 people have been jailed following protests against a government job quota, which escalated into a nationwide demand for Hasina’s resignation.

This move by President Shahabuddin is seen as an attempt to stabilize the political climate and address the unrest that has gripped the nation.