AL leader Sahara Khatun no more

Ruling Awami League presidium member and former home minister Sahara Khatun has passed away while undergoing treatment in Thailand.

She was 77.

She breathed her last at 11:26pm (Bangladesh Time) on Thursday at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, prime minister's special assistant, and AL office secretary Biplab Barua told Prothom Alo.

When her body will be flown back home will be decided today, he added.

She was flown there on July 6 for better treatment.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and AL general secretary Obaidul Quader have expressed their deep sorrow at the death of Sahara Khatun.

Before going to Thailand, the 77-year-old lawmaker was undergoing treatment at the capital's United Hospital with several health complications since 2 June.

Later, she was shifted to the ICU on 19 June as her condition deteriorated.

Born on 1 March 1943, Sahara Khatun was involved with politics since her student life.

She served as the first female home minister of Bangladesh from 2009 to 2012.