NEW DELHI, August 6. /TASS/. Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairwoman Begum Khaleda Zia has been released from house arrest, the administration of President Mohammed Shahabuddin said.

According to the statement, the process of releasing the student leaders who were detained from July 1 to August 5 has already begun. "Many have already been released," the statement said.

In addition, more than a thousand opponents of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned on Monday, have been released from jail.

Begum Khaleda Zia has twice served as Bangladesh's prime minister. In 2008, she was sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery. She spent two years in prison and was released on parole and placed under house arrest. BNP supporters believe her conviction was politically motivated.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, more than 10,000 people have been arrested in Bangladesh since the unrest began. AFP reported, citing police and medics, that more than 350 people have died in protests since July. At the same time, the India Today television said, citing sources, the death toll could be higher: between 1,000 and 1,500.