Hasina stopped from returning to Bangladesh

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wajed was today stopped by British authorities from boarding a Dhaka-bound flight following a bar on her return by the military-backed interim government in her country.

British Airways, on which she was due to fly home, refused to issue her a boarding pass on Sunday afternoon, saying that the UK government had advised them that she has been banned from returning to Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina told reporters here. She, however, vowed to go back to Bangladesh and said, "I have all the right to go back because they (Bangladesh government) has filed cases against me and I have all the right to face the charges. They can't stop me from going back."

An angry Hasina said, "They have no right to stop me... I will fight." She said Bangladesh government had threatened to deny landing permission to the plane carrying her back to Dhaka. "I want to go back but they are not allowing me to go back," the Awami League chief said. Prof Hashem, the general secretary of the UK unit of Awami League, said that "Hasina has a valid ticket. She was flying from America to Dhaka with a stopover here. When she went to the airlines counter to check in this afternoon, she was called in a special chamber and a officer from the Brititsh Airways told her that she was not allowed to go back".

Meanwhile, a Bangladesh court today issued an arrest warrant against Hasina in connection with the killing of five activists of a rival group.