TDS Desk:

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is likely to travel to London on 7 January next year for advanced treatment of her various illnesses.

“Madam (Khaleda) may travel to London on January 7 if she remains fit for the air journey,” her physician Prof AZM Zahid Hossain said.

A BNP leader close to Khaleda, wishing anonymity, said the BNP chief would be taken to London in an air ambulance from Qatar Airways.

He said a 15-member delegation, including Khaled’s later son Arafat Rahman Koko’s wife Syeda Sharmila Rahmanm, some physicians and BNP leaders, her personal secretary, and two housemaids will accompany her during the London tour.

The BNP leader said Khaleda Zia’s office has already informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding her treatment abroad, including details of her entourage members.

He said all other necessary arrangements have been completed to send the BNP chief to London where her eldest son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman along with his family has been living since 12 September 2008.

Khaleda, also a former prime minister, has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart and eyes.

On 26 October last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.

Khaleda’s doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

Khaleda Zia was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail on February 8, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

On 30 October 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order, suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020 on the condition that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

On 6 August Khaleda Zia was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.