Dhaka: Shafik Rehman, a well-known magazine editor, was barred from flying to London in the United Kingdom to visit his sick wife.

Shafik Rehman, who is also a British citizen, said he was prevented from boarding a flight from Dhaka to London, where his wife is receiving treatment for leukaemia.

The Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Immigration Police did not allow the journalist to go London on Thursday morning, said Shafik’s personal physician Shakhawat Hossain Shawant.

Shawant said Shafik Rehman went to the airport at about 3:00am on Thursday. He was supposed to go London in a Turkish Airway flight at about 6:30am. 

The 81-year-old was released from jail last September, five months after he was arrested on charges of plotting to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son, sparking fears of a media crackdown.

Authorities returned his seized British passport last week after the high court granted him permission to visit his ailing wife.

‘The police asked to see the high court order which I have already submitted to a lower court. I showed them the order’s photocopy but they said they were not advised about any clearance about my flight,’ Rehman told AFP.

‘It’s very unjust. I’m not accusing anybody, but feeling very disappointed. My wife is dying out there and she needs me beside her more than ever.’

Immigration authorities contacted by AFP said they needed to verify Rehman’s papers.

‘He will be able to catch the next flight once we are done with the procedure,’ a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.

Shafik Rehman’s wife, Taleya Rehamn, is suffering from blood cancer. She has been admitted to London’s Mac Milan Cancer Hospital since January.

Earlier, on 16 April 2016, detective branch (DB) of police arrested Shafik Rehman, for sedition.

He was arrested as the police found evidence linking the editor to a conspiracy to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

Shafik Rehman was a long-time editor of Jai Jai Din, a mass-circulation Bengali daily. He now edits a popular Bengali monthly magazine called Mouchake Dhil.