Bangladesh frees Hasina rival Khaleda Zia from house arrest

Head of Bangladesh Nationalist Party was an opponent of Prime Minister Hasina, who resigned and fled the country.

Bangladesh has released Begum Khaleda Zia, the chair of the main opposition party, from house arrest, the president’s office announced.

Zia, 78, who twice held the post of prime minister, was convicted in a corruption case in 2018 and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was moved to a hospital a year later as her health deteriorated. She has denied the charges against her.

Zia was an archrival of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, who resigned and fled the country on Monday.

On Tuesday, President Mohammed Shahabuddin announced Zia’s release from house arrest and dissolved parliament after calls from the student-led national movement.

Zia had led the BNP since 1981 after her husband, then-president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in an attempted military coup. She became Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister a decade later.

Despite having ruled between 1991 and 1996 and from 2001 to 2006, Zia’s terms in office were marred by corruption allegations.

As part of a deal to allow Zia to resume political life, her two sons – also accused of corruption during her second term – relocated to the United Kingdom.

The announcement of her release came after the army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, was meeting student leaders to discuss the formation of an interim government that is expected to hold elections soon after it takes over.

Meanwhile, the country’s key police association on Tuesday apologised for actions against “innocent students” during the crackdown on protesters and demanded the release of its jailed officers.

“Until the security of every member of the