Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury
Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury was a Bangladesh Awami League politician and Member of Parliament from Madaripur-1.
Early life and family
Chowdhury was born on 15 August 1934 to a Bengali Muslim family of Chowdhuries in the village of Duttapara in Shibchar, Madaripur, then part of the Bengal Province's Faridpur district. His father, Nuruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, was a zamindar and his mother, Sheikh Fatema Begum, was a housewife from the Sheikh family of Tungipara. Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury had Iraqi Arab ancestry through his maternal grandfather Sheikh Lutfar Rahman, who was a direct descendant of 17th-century Muslim preacher Sheikh Abdul Awal of Baghdad.He was the paternal cousin of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He was the nephew of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. His mother, Sheikh Fatema Begum, was the eldest sister of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Chowdhury was married to his first-cousin Sheikh Feroza Begum, the daughter of his mother's younger sister, Sheikh Asia Begum. Their sons Liton Chowdhury and Nixon Chowdhury are both politicians and members of parliament in Bangladesh.