Ruling Awami League presidium member and deputy leader of the parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury died at the Combined Military Hospital in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Sunday night. She was 87.
‘My mother died at the CMH in Dhaka at about 11:40pm on Sunday,’ her son Shahadab Akbar Chowdhury said.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her deep shock at the death of the veteran politician.
Sajeda was born on May 8, 1935 in her maternal uncle’s home in Magura, then under Jessore District in the Bengal Province of British India and joined Awami League in 1956. She was one of the organisers of the War of Independence.
She served as the founding general secretary of Mahila Awami League between 1969 and 1975.
The veteran AL leader was elected lawmaker from Faridpur-2 constituency for the seventh time and elected deputy leader of the House on February 12, 2019 for the third consecutive time.
She had earlier served as the environment and forest affairs minister.
She was awarded Independence Day Award in 2010.
Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury also served as the acting general secretary of Awami League.
Besides politics, she also engaged herself in social works and contributed to the development of sports, cultural and religious institutions.
