---
title: "PM-hopeful Rahman to return to Bangladesh on December 25: party"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/269555980.md"
description: "Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and aspiring prime minister, will return to Bangladesh on December 25 after 17 years in exile in the UK. Rahman, who fled due to alleged political persecution, plans to run in the upcoming general elections. His return coincides with the Christmas holiday. Rahman has been acquitted of a major charge related to a 2004 grenade attack. His mother, former PM Khaleda Zia, is critically ill in Dhaka."
datetime: "2025-12-12T17:49:53.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/269555980.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/269555980.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/269555980.md)
---

> Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/269555980.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/269555980.md)


# PM-hopeful Rahman to return to Bangladesh on December 25: party

Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is poised to return home after years in exile (HENRY NICHOLLS)

Political heavyweight and aspiring Bangladesh prime minister Tarique Rahman will return to the country later this month after 17 years in exile in Britain, his party announced on Friday.

Rahman, 60, has lived in London since 2008, saying he fled political persecution under former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

He is heir to the longtime ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by his ailing mother, 80-year-old former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Rahman has said he will run in the general elections slated for February 12 next year and remains a favourite to be the next prime minister.

"Our Acting Chairman Mr. Tarique Rahman will arrive among us on the soil of Dhaka on the 25th of December," BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters.

"The day is also a very good one, as it'll be the Christmas holiday. A fantastic day."

The elections will be the first since a mass uprising ended the 15-year hardline rule of Hasina last year.

Long groomed for leadership, Rahman's political career has been dogged by several allegations.

He was arrested on corruption charges in 2007 and says he was tortured in custody.

Freed later that year, he flew to London in 2008 for medical treatment and never returned.

Since Hasina's fall, Rahman has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him -- a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally, which he always denied.

Zia, who is critically ill, is in intensive care in the capital Dhaka, after she was admitted to hospital last month.

mma/abh

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