BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday said the party chief, Begum Khaleda Zia, is doing well now and celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr with her family in London after eight years.

“Alhamdulillah, she is better now in London,” he told reporters at the chairperson's Gulshan office in Dhaka.

Fakhrul said Khaleda Zia will probably return home in mid-April.

On 8 January, the BNP chairperson was taken to London for advanced treatment.

Fakhrul said the BNP chief suffered liver cirrhosis while she was in prison as she did not receive any treatment there.

“We believe that she was put on slow poisoning in prison. If you ask Madam, she will not tell you this. Because she is not that kind of person.”

He said, “The room where Madam was kept was damp, all the walls were crumbling and rats were running around; our Madam faced such a situation.”

BNP Chairperson’s personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain told the media that Begum Zia is at the house of her eldest son, BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman where her two daughters-in-law Zubaida Rahman and Syeda Shamila Rahman, three granddaughters Zaima Rahman, Zafia Rahman, and Zahia Rahman are also there.

They have made all the Eid arrangements, he added.

This is Khaleda Zia's third Eid celebration in London.

This is the first time in eight years that she is celebrating Eid at her son Tarique Rahman's house.

In 2017, she went to London for treatment and celebrated Eid-ul-Azha at her son's house. Even before that, she celebrated Eid with her family members in London in September 2015.

When asked how Khaleda Zia was doing, Zahid said, "She is much better than before at the moment."

He said, “Madam extended Eid greetings to the countrymen and party leaders and activists. The acting chairman of the party, Tarique Rahman also extended Eid greetings to the countrymen through you [journalists].”

On 8 January, former prime minister Khaleda Zia went to London for treatment in a royal air ambulance sent by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

She was admitted to The London Clinic under the care of Prof John Patrick Kennedy for 17 days.

After that, the medical board formed for her at the clinic decided that Khaleda Zia would be under the care of Prof Patrick Kennedy and Prof Jennifer Cross at her son Tarique Rahman's house.

The 79-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various physical ailments for long.

In 2018, she was arrested in a corruption case and imprisoned in the old Dhaka Central Jail. The government granted her special release during the COVID-19 period. She spent four Eids in prison and Bangladesh Medical University Hospital.

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the student-people uprising on 5 August, Khaleda was released on an order by the president. The court then overturned the verdicts in the two corruption cases in which she was imprisoned.