Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Khaleda Zia Dies at the Age of 80

“Our favourite leader is no longer with us. She left us at 6 a.m. this morning,” the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced on Facebook on Monday, confirming Zia’s demise.

Khaleda Zia became Bangladesh’s first female head of government in 1991 after leading her party to victory in the country’s first democratic election in 20 years.

According to her physician, on Monday, Zia’s condition was extremely critical, and she was on life support.

Earlier, Zia’s party had said that she would be contesting the general elections, which are expected to be held in February.

Crowds gathered outside Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where Zia was admitted, after news of her death broke. Photographs showed police officers attempting to stop people from entering the hospital premises.

Zia first came into public attention as the wife of Bangladesh’s former president, Ziaur Rahman, and was seen as a reserved presence alongside her husband. Following his assassination in a military coup in 1981, Zia entered politics and later rose to lead the BNP.