CHRD Bangladesh is extremely concerned about the grave debilitating and deteriorating health condition of ailing Begum Khaleda Zia, the former democratically elected Prime Minister of Bangladesh. CHRD Bangladesh also demands her immediate and unconditional release from the clutches of the dictatorial regime in Dhaka. Mrs. Zia should be able to get medical care in the facility of her choice.
Begum Khaleda Zia became the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh when she was elected in 1991 for the first time. She was again elected as Prime Minister in 6th and 8th parliamentary elections held in 1996 and 2001 respectively. In the 7th and 9th parliament, Begum Zia served as the Leader of the Opposition. During the last 13 years since the election of the 9th parliament held on 29 December 2008, Bangladesh has gradually become a brutal, authoritarian state under the Sheikh Hasina regime. The government she heads has chocked democracy, free press and civil society. The fascist regime has usurped all fundamental rights and liberties of the people of Bangladesh. Custodial deaths, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances have become the tools of the regime to suppress dissent and exterminate political opponents.
A dysfunctional judiciary operates in Bangladesh at the behest of Sheikh Hasina. Begum Khaleda Zia is a glaring victim of the partisan judiciary that has refused to grant bail to this seventy-six year old, critically ill, former Prime Minister in completely false, concocted and politically ill-motivated cases violating her constitutional rights and in contravention of the existing procedural laws of the country. She is now languishing in the critical care unit (the CCU) in a hospital in Dhaka fighting for her life. Sheikh Hasina, the only female dictator in the contemporary world, has refused to give permission to take Begum Khaleda Zia abroad for advanced medical treatment when the country has the records of its President and many ministers of the authoritarian PM’s cabinet running to the best hospitals of their choice globally for their health-related treatments.
CHRD Bangladesh fervently appeals to the International Community including the UN, EU and the US government to put pressure on the dictatorial regime in Bangladesh to immediately free Begum Khaleda Zia and allow her to travel to the country of her choice for treatment of her ailment. Any delay to act may endanger her life. The silence of the International Community regarding the brutal abuse of human rights being perpetrated by the regime of Sheikh Hasina would encourage her and similar barbaric regimes in other parts of the world to commit atrocities with a sense of impunity.
We, as human rights activists and defenders, unequivocally and most strongly condemn the unlawful, authoritarian acts committed by the current regime in Bangladesh.
*The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) is a US-based nonprofit organization advocating for the establishment of human rights and democracy in Bangladesh to the United States government. www.chrdbangladesh.org
November 19, 2021
