Widow of slain leader becomes Bangladesh’s first female prime minister

Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh, has died at the age of 80.

Her husband Ziaur Rahman once described her as a “shy housewife”. Ziaur Rahman was a leading figure in the country’s independence struggle and became president in 1977.

But after her husband’s assassination in 1981, Zia led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and served two terms as prime minister – first in the 1990s and second in the early 2000s.

Her tumultuous public life did not end as prime minister – she was later accused of corruption and jailed for years – but those charges were dropped after her long-time rival Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power in a 2024 uprising.

Begum Khaleda Zia was born in 1945 in West Bengal.

The daughter of a tea merchant, she moved with her family to what is now Bangladesh after the partition of India.

At the age of 15, she married Ziaur Rahman, a then young army officer.

In 1971, he participated in the mutiny against the West Pakistan Army and declared Bangladesh independent.

After the suspension of the army in 1977, Rahman (who later became army chief) declared himself president. He reintroduced political parties and a free media, later supported by a popular vote.

He also faced as many as 20 military coups and responded to them with brutal brutality. There were reports of mass executions of soldiers.

In 1981, he was assassinated by a group of army officers in Chittagong.

At the age of 36, Khaleda Zia became a widow.

Until then, she had kept a low profile and seemed uninterested in public life.

But in 1982, she became a member of the BNP, the party founded by her husband, and later rose to become vice-president.

1982 was also the year that the nine-year military dictatorship began after the Bangladesh Army Chief seized power in a coup.

During this period, Zia launched a fierce campaign against military rule, boycotting elections that were tightly managed by the army.

Zia was placed under house arrest several times for his activism but earned a reputation among his people as an “uncompromising leader”.

After the collapse of the military government in 1990, Khaleda Zia and the BNP became the largest party in the post-military elections and was sworn in as prime minister in 1991.

After absorbing much of the power of the old president, she is now Bangladesh’s first female leader and only the second to lead a Muslim country.

With her assumption of office as prime minister, the government of Bangladesh returned to a parliamentary system.

One of the most striking reforms she implemented during her first term was the introduction of free and compulsory primary education for all.

But in 1996, she lost her re-election bid to the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina.

In 2001, Zia took revenge and formed an alliance with some Islamist parties. Together they won nearly two-thirds of the seats in parliament, but the BNP’s close ties with Islamist parties have drawn criticism over the years.

During her second term, Zia championed women’s issues, such as introducing quotas for female parliamentarians and providing education for young women in a country where 70% are illiterate.

Soon after Zia’s term ended in 2006, Bangladesh was plunged into turmoil in a political vacuum. Amid the unrest, the country’s interim government, backed by the military, banned most political activity and began cracking down on high-level corruption that cut across political lines.

Zia was arrested on racketeering and corruption charges. So does her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the people’s leader and Bangladesh’s first president.

The two women, who had spent the better part of two decades switching from government to opposition, were suddenly mired in court cases.

In the years since, restrictions on Zia were lifted, and she became opposition leader after losing military-backed elections in 2008.

The BNP lost representation in parliament after boycotting the 2014 election.

In 2018, Zia was convicted and jailed for five years for embezzling approximately $252,000 (£188,000), funds intended for an orphanage trust she set up when she was prime minister.

She became the only prisoner incarcerated in the old (now abandoned) Dhaka Central Prison. Her sentence was so long that it disqualified her from seeking public office.

She denies wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated.

A year later, 73-year-old Zia was transferred to the hospital for treatment of severe arthritis and uncontrolled diabetes.

She was eventually released from prison on medical grounds and told to stay home.

In 2024, the tables turned again and Sheikh Hasina’s government fell due to popular discontent.

Hasina fled to India, and the interim government that replaced her ordered the release of Khaleda Zia and the unfreezing of her bank accounts.

By this time, she was suffering from a series of life-threatening illnesses, including cirrhosis of the liver and kidney damage.

In January 2025, her travel restrictions were lifted and she was allowed to travel to London for treatment.

But in the early morning of December 30, she died in Dhaka due to poor health for several months.

She is survived by her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, who returned to Bangladesh in late December after years of exile in London and is widely seen as the frontrunner to be Bangladesh’s next leader. Her youngest son “Koko” died in 2015.