Dhaka  - Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia announced Thursday her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) would join the upcoming general election for the transition to democracy provided the military-backed interim regime could ensure a level playing field for all political parties.

"Certainly the BNP will contest the polls because we are a democratic organization," said Zia at a press briefing after she was released from a make-shift prison in the high security parliament complex in north Dhaka.

Zia was detained by the interim authorities for over a year on charges of extortion and embezzlement of charity funds.

Soon after her release the 63-year old chief of the BNP went to a jail hospital where her ailing eldest son and expected political heir Tarique Rahman had been detained over the past year and a half. (dpa)