Former Bangladesh PM and BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia died at 80 after a prolonged illness in Dhaka.
The country’s first female prime minister, she served three terms and helped restore parliamentary democracy.
Her death ends a defining era of political rivalry, marked by legal battles, health struggles, and her long feud with Sheikh Hasina.
The first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh passed away after a prolonged illness at the age of 80 at around 6 am on Tuesday, 30 December 2025. She was the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a well-known figure in Bangladeshi politics. She took her last breath at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka where she was undergoing treatment.
She was receiving treatment for several health complications after being hospitalized on 23 November 2025. Her heart and lungs were affected by infections, and she also suffered from pneumonia. She received medical treatment from specialists both from Bangladesh and abroad, but her condition deteriorated over the last 36 days of hospitalisation.
The BNP issued a statement confirming the death of its chairperson: “The BNP Chairperson and former prime minister, the national leader Begum Khaleda Zia, passed away today at 6:00 am, just after the Fajr (dawn) prayer.” Zia’s body had been afflicted by a series of chronic illnesses in recent years, including liver cirrhosis, diabetes, arthritis, along with complications affecting her kidneys, lungs, heart, and eyes. Her condition was described as extremely critical by doctors, as her worsening health compelled her to be placed on ventilator support in mid-December. There were arrangements for her to be treated abroad, including a standby airlift to London, but this could not be carried out owing to her fragile health condition.
Khaleda Zia was born in 1945 to a well-off Muslim family from West Bengal, which was then part of British India. Her father, Iskandar Mazumder, was a businessman, while her mother, Tayeba Mazumder, was a housewife. She entered politics after the assassination of her husband, Major General Ziaur Rahman, who was a prominent leader of the country’s liberation and post-independence era. The BNP was founded by her husband in 1978 and was later taken over by Zia in 1984 to continue her husband’s legacy.
She became the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1991, creating history, and is also credited with shifting the country back to parliamentary democracy after years of military rule. She served three terms as prime minister, from 1991 to 1996, briefly in 1996, and from 2001 to 2006, playing a major role in shaping the country’s policies and administration. Her terms were often marked by criticism over governance and rising militant violence.
The former Bangladeshi prime minister was convicted in a corruption case in 2018 involving the misappropriation of foreign donations to an orphanage trust, along with her close aides and elder son, Tarique Rahman. She denied the charges, calling them politically motivated. She was jailed and later moved to house arrest in March 2020 due to her deteriorating health.
She was later released from house arrest in August 2024 following the political upheaval of that year, which ousted her long-time rival Sheikh Hasina’s government. She and her son were acquitted in the corruption case in early 2025, paving the way for her political participation in the upcoming February 2026 election. She was believed to be regaining her political stature through the election.
(SY)
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