British High Commissioner meets BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke met BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Wednesday night and inquired about her health conditions.

BNP Media Cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan said the meeting was held at 8:30pm at the Firoza residence of the BNP Chairperson in the city's Gulshan area.

It was Khaleda Zia’s first meeting with a foreign envoy since 2018, following her acquittal of graft convictions.

Sarah Cooke met Khaleda ahead of her visit to the UK for better treatment, party sources said.

BNP standing committee member Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, chief of her medical board Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, Dr FM Siddique, and member of the Special Assistant to BNP Chairperson's Foreign Affairs Advisory Committee Tabith Awal were present.

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

According to a gazette issued by the home ministry on August 6, the president passed the order under Article 49 of the Bangladesh Constitution.

Article 49 says: the president shall have power to grant pardons, reprieves, and respites and to remit, suspend, or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal, or other authority.

On August 24, she returned home after receiving treatment at the hospital for 45 days.

Khaleda has long been battling various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

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

On October 26, 2023, 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.

She was placed in 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 October 30, 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 March 25, 2020, with conditions that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.