Begum Khaleda Zia, the chair of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been released from house arrest, according to announcement from the president’s office.
The 78-year-old former prime minister, who had been convicted in a corruption case and sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018, was moved to a hospital in 2019 due to deteriorating health. She has consistently denied the charges against her.
The release of Zia comes just a day after President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved parliament following the resignation and departure from the country of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, on Monday. Hasina had a fierce political rival of Zia.
President Shahabuddin’s decision to release Zia was made after discussions with politicians and the army, as part of efforts to form an interim government. The move also follows calls from a student-led national movement for political change in the country.
Khaleda Zia, who led the BNP since 1981 following the assassination of her husband, then-president Ziaur Rahman, in an attempted military coup served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006.
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However, her terms in office were marked by allegations of corruption. As part of a deal to allow Zia to resume her political activities, her two sons, who were also accused of corruption during her second term, to the United Kingdom.
“Until the security of every member of the police is secured, we are declaring a strike,” the Bangladesh police association said in a statement.
It argued its officers had been “forced to open fire”, and that they had been cast as the “villain”.
Among the high-profile individuals released from detention on Tuesday was Ahmad Bin Quasem, an opposition activist and lawyer who is a British-educated barrister and the son of Mir Quasem Ali, the former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami. Mir Quasem Ali was executed in 2016 following the rejection of his final appeal by the Supreme Court.
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The release of Ahmad Bin Quasem and others comes amid accusations that security forces under the previous administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had detained tens of thousands of opposition activists, killed hundreds in extrajudicial encounters, and made numerous opposition leaders and supporters disappear.
Human Rights Watch reported last year that security forces in Bangladesh had committed more than 600 enforced disappearances since Hasina came to power in 2009, with nearly 100 people still unaccounted for. Hasina’s government has denied these allegations, claiming that some of those reported missing had drowned in the Mediterranean while attempting to reach Europe.
The release of these individuals follows the resignation and departure from the country of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, and the subsequent dissolution of parliament by President Mohammed Shahabuddin.
“We need answers,” Sanjida Islam Tulee, coordinator of Mayer Daak, told the AFP news agency. The group, whose name translates as The Call of the Mothers, has been campaigning for the release of detained people.
