LONDON, April 22: Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina was barred from boarding a flight to Dhaka on Sunday after Bangladesh’s authorities asked the airlines to prevent her returning home.
Hasina faces charges in Bangladesh of murder linked to street battles between political opponents and extortion.
The army-backed government that took power this year has ordered her to stay away, saying her return could trigger further violence.
British Airways told Hasina it would not be able to enter Bangladesh with her on the flight.
“She’s not flying, we’re returning to London,” Radwan Siddiq, nephew of Hasina, told Reuters.
A Dhaka court earlier issued an arrest warrant for her.
It called her an ‘absconder’ and ordered police to confiscate her property if she did not surrender by May 28, officials said.
Hasina, leader of the Awami League, has vowed to fight the charges and had said she would board Sunday’s flight in defiance of the government’s order.
Siddiq said he did not know what Hasina's next move would be, but she was expected to stay with family in London for the foreseeable future.Her ultimate intention was to return home to fight the charges against her, he said.
“The number one priority is always that we will continue to fight this embargo,” he said.
“Sheikh Hasina has always said she wants to go back and fight these charges and clear her name.”
Zillur Rahman, acting president of the Awami League, said in a statement that the government's actions were deplorable.
Suranjit Sengupta, a senior leader of the party, said: “The order to arrest for absconding in one hand and blocking the home return of the accused to face the charges in another is contradictory. It means that the law is not moving in its natural course.”
The arrest warrant order arose from a case filed by an official of the rival Jamaat-i-Islami party over street battles on Oct 28 that killed several people.
Hasina was not allowed to board a British Airways flight to Dhaka last week.
The Bangladesh government has asked airlines, immigration officials and security forces to block her return.
Separately, supporters of Begum Khaleda Zia, another former prime minister, filed a writ petition in a Dhaka court, challenging her apparent confinement at home.—Reuters
