Tarique Rahman, the de facto chief of Bangladesh's main opposition party, returned home on Thursday, ending a 17-year exile in London.
Rahman, 60, the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, was greeted at Dhaka's airport by senior party leaders and relatives, according to a party statement.
His wife Zubaida Rahman and daughter Zaima Zarnaz Rahman travelled along with him.
Rahman went into exile in 2008 during a military-backed government that took power amid political turmoil. While abroad, he was convicted in absentia on multiple criminal charges, including money laundering, corruption, and alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate his political rival, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
His party maintained that these convictions were politically motivated. Following Hasina's ouster in a mass uprising last August, the courts overturned the convictions, removing the final legal barriers to his return.
Rahman is now poised to lead the BNP in the next national election, scheduled for February 12, the first voting since Hasina's removal.
His party is widely considered a frontrunner in the poll, which was announced by the interim administration of Muhammad Yunus.
From the airport, his motorcade travelled directly towards a reception on an expressway in the Purbachal area on Dhaka's outskirts, where hundreds of thousands of supporters had gathered.
Footage showed Rahman waving to greet supporters waiting along the roadside.
The BNP has mobilized members and supporters nationwide, aiming to bring five million people to the capital to mark his homecoming. In response, authorities deployed stringent security measures across the city.
After the rally, Rahman is scheduled to visit his ailing mother, the former prime minister Zia, at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. The 80-year-old was admitted to hospital in late November and is being treated for heart, liver, kidney, and lung complications, among other health issues.
