Khaleda Zia

Khaleda Zia
খালেদা জিয়া
Zia in 2016
9th Prime Minister of Bangladesh
In office 10 October 2001 – 29 October 2006
President	Shahabuddin Ahmed Badruddoza Chowdhury Iajuddin Ahmed
Preceded by	Latifur Rahman (acting)
Succeeded by	Iajuddin Ahmed (acting)
In office 20 March 1991 – 30 March 1996
President	Shahabuddin Ahmed (Acting) Abdur Rahman Biswas
Preceded by	Kazi Zafar Ahmed
Succeeded by	Muhammad Habibur Rahman (acting)
3rd Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 May 1984
General Secretary	Mustafizur Rahman KM Obaidur Rahman Abdus Salam Talukder Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan Khandaker Delwar Hossain Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir
Preceded by	Abdus Sattar
4th Leader of the Opposition
In office 29 December 2008 – 9 January 2014
Prime Minister	Sheikh Hasina
Preceded by	Sheikh Hasina
Succeeded by	Rowshan Ershad
In office 23 June 1996 – 15 July 2001
Prime Minister	Sheikh Hasina
Preceded by	Sheikh Hasina
Succeeded by	Sheikh Hasina
2nd First Lady of Bangladesh
In role 21 April 1977 – 30 May 1981
President	Ziaur Rahman
Preceded by	Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib
Succeeded by	Rowshan Ershad
7th Leader of the House
In office 10 October 2001 – 29 October 2006
Preceded by	Sheikh Hasina
Succeeded by	Sheikh Hasina
In office 20 March 1991 – 30 March 1996
Preceded by	Kazi Zafar Ahmed
Succeeded by	Sheikh Hasina
Member of Parliament
In office 29 December 2008 – 9 January 2014
Preceded by	Sayeed Iskander
Succeeded by	Shirin Akhter
Constituency	Feni-1
In office 1 October 2001 – 29 October 2006
Preceded by	Zafar Imam
Succeeded by	Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar
Constituency	Bogra-6
In office 20 March 1991 – 15 July 2001
Preceded by	Zafar Imam
Succeeded by	Sayeed Iskander
Constituency	Feni-1
Personal details
Born	Khaleda Khanam Putul 1945 (age 78–79)[note 1] Jalpaiguri, Bengal, British India (now West Bengal, India)
Political party	Bangladesh Nationalist Party (1979–present)
Other political affiliations	Four Party Alliance (2001–2011) 18 Party Alliance (2011–2022) Jatiya Oikya Front (2018–2022)
Spouse	Ziaur Rahman ​ ​ (m. 1960; died 1981)​
Relations	Sayeed Iskander (brother) Khurshid Jahan (sister) Shahrin Islam Tuhin (nephew) Saiful Islam Duke (nephew)
Children	Tarique Arafat
Parents	Iskandar Majumder (father) Taiyaba Majumder (mother)
Relatives	See Majumder–Zia family

Begum Khaleda Zia (Bengali pronunciation: [kʰaled̪a dʒija]; born Khaleda Khanam Putul^[1][2] in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006.^[3] She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and second female prime minister in the Muslim world, after Benazir Bhutto. She is the widow of former president of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her late husband in 1978.

After a military coup in 1982, led by Army Chief General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Zia helped lead the movement for democracy until the fall of Ershad in 1990. She became the prime minister following the BNP party win in the 1991 general election. She also served briefly in the short-lived government in 1996, when other parties had boycotted the first election. In the next round of general elections of 1996, the Awami League came to power. Her party came to power again in 2001. She has been elected to five separate parliamentary constituencies in the general elections of 1991, 1996 and 2001.

She developed a reputation as the "Uncompromising leader" due to her staunch opposition against military dictatorship of Ershad in the 1980s and her commitment to restore democracy in Bangladesh. She was put under house arrest several times by the Ershad government, and later by the Sheikh Hasina led government.^[4] She was honored as “Fighter for Democracy” by the New Jersey’s State Senate in 2011.^[5]

In its list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, Forbes magazine ranked Zia at number 14 in 2004,^[6] number 29 in 2005,^[7] and number 33 in 2006.^[8]

Following her government's term end in 2006, the scheduled January 2007 elections were delayed due to political violence and in-fighting, resulting in a bloodless military takeover of the caretaker government. During its interim rule, it charged Zia and her two sons with corruption.^[9][10][11]

Since the 1980s, Zia's chief rival has been Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina. Since 1991, they have been the only two serving as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.^[12]

Zia was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison for the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case and Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in 2018. A local court handed her the verdict for abusing power as the prime minister while disbursing a fund in favor of newly formed Zia Orphanage Trust.^[13] Referring to the international and domestic legal experts, the U.S. State Department in its 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices opined that “lack of evidence to support the conviction” suggests the case was a political ploy to remove her from the electoral process.^[14] Amnesty International raised concerns that her “fair trial rights are not respected.”^[15]

Zia was transferred to a hospital for medical treatment in April 2019.^[16] In March 2020, she was released for six months on humanitarian grounds with the conditions that she would stay at her home in Gulshan, Dhaka and not travel abroad.^[17] She is also informally prohibited from making political moves, as doing so would result in re-imprisonment.^[18] In September 2022, the 6-month period suspension of her sentence was granted for the sixth consecutive time.^[19]

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