Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister and a towering figure in the country’s turbulent politics, has died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness, according to her party. In a statement on Tuesday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said Khaleda died at 6am local time (00:00 GMT). Our beloved national leader is no longer with us,” the BNP said. “We pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul,” it said. Khaleda died at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where she was admitted on November 23 with symptoms of a lung infection, according to The Daily Star, a Bangladesh news website. Her doctors said she had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems. Khaleda’s death closes a chapter spanning more than three decades during which she and her rival Sheikh Hasina — who were known as the “battling begums” — dominated Bangladeshi politics. Hasina, who was forced from power last year and sentenced to death in absentia for her crackdown on student protesters, is now in exile in India. Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, expressed his “profound sorrow” at Khaleda’s death in a statement on X. He called the three-time prime minister a “symbol of the democratic movement” in Bangladesh and said the “nation has lost a great guardian”. “I am deeply saddened and grief-stricken by her death,” he added.
