A court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced at least 57 Bangladeshi nationals to prison, including three for life imprisonment, over protests against their home government in the Gulf country, state media reported Monday.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal on Sunday handed 10-year prison sentences to 53 Bangladeshi nationals and an 11-year term to another Bangladeshi national, in addition to the three life imprisonments, according to the state-owned Emirates News Agency, WAM. The court ordered the deportation of the Bangladeshis from the UAE following their prison terms.
“The court heard a witness who confirmed that the defendants gathered and organised large-scale marches in several streets of the UAE in protest against decisions made by the Bangladeshi government,” WAM reported.
On Saturday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates ordered an investigation and an expedited trial of the arrested Bangladeshi nationals.
The protests in the UAE followed weeks of demonstrations in Bangladesh by people upset about a quota system that reserved up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The country’s top court on Sunday scaled back the controversial system, in a partial victory for the mostly student protesters.
The UAE’s attorney general’s office on Saturday indicted the Bangladeshis on several charges, including “gathering in a public place and protesting against their home government with the intent to incite unrest,” obstructing law enforcement, causing harm to others and damaging property, according to WAM.
Bangladeshi nationals make up the UAE’s third-largest expatriate community. Many of them are low-paid laborers seeking to send money back home to their families. The Emirates’ overall population of more than 9.2 million is only 10% Emirati.
Political parties and labor unions are banned in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms. Broad laws severely restrict freedom of speech and almost all major local media are either state-owned or state-affiliated outlets.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury on Wednesday said the government of Bangladesh has yet to receive any official confirmation from the UAE government regarding visa restrictions for Bangladeshis.
“We have tried to gather all the information. We have not received any verbal or official confirmation letter about the visa restrictions. We have contacted the Bangladesh Embassy in the UAE and the UAE Ambassador to Bangladesh, but they have not confirmed any such development,” he told reporters at his Eskaton office around 5:00pm on Wednesday.
Asked about legal steps for the 57 migrant workers convicted in the UAE, the minister said they would not interfere in the judicial and internal affairs of that country.
“Some agents of the BNP-Jamaat staged protests in different parts of the UAE. They were convicted for violating that country’s laws. By doing this, they have attempted to damage the overseas labour market and tarnish the country’s image,” he said.
