June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

DHAKA, June 14: A Bangladeshi court on Thursday barred former prime minister and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina from leaving the country.

The court ordered immigration authorities concerned not to allow Hasina to leave the country.

She has reportedly been planning to visit her son and daughter and their families in the United States, and was scheduled to fly for USA on Friday.

Earlier, the military backed non-party government of Dr Fhakhruddin Ahmed implicated Hasina in three extortion cases and in a murder case.

In another development, police blocked on Thursday morning Hasina's pre-scheduled trip to the port city of Chittagong for visiting survivors of tragic landslides that killed more than 100 people three days ago.

However, the court order for preventing Hasina from going abroad came after police had sought legal intervention to prevent Hasina from flying out, arguing that her absence in the country would stand in the ways of investigating into the extortion charges against her.

Notably, she was briefly barred to return home from an earlier visit to the United States in April.