Loyalists cheer as ex-PM Khaleda Zia returns home to Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, chair of the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), returned home to cheering crowds on Tuesday after months abroad for medical treatment.

Zia, 79, led the South Asian nation twice but was jailed for corruption in 2018 during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, her successor and lifelong rival who barred her from travelling abroad for medical care.

The 79-year-old was released from house arrest after a student-led mass uprising ousted Hasina in August 2024.