A group of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Maldives are facing detention and deportation after participating in a recent protest following the quota-reform movement in Bangladesh.
Sohel Parvez, counsellor (labour) at the Bangladesh High Commission in Male, said they had not been officially informed about the matter yet but would address it once they were.
The number of Bangladeshis involved in the demonstration, which took place on July 25 on Thinadhoo island, is still unknown.
Maldives Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan announced that Bangladeshi nationals involved in organising the protest would be detained and deported, citing visa violations.
"Foreigners cannot come to the Maldives and engage in political work. It is a visa violation," the minister said.
Human Rights Watch condemned the Maldivian government's decision, urging them to uphold the fundamental rights of migrants.
Robbie Newton, HRW senior coordinator for Asia, argued that arresting and deporting Bangladeshi nationals for peaceful protest breaches their right to peaceful assembly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Maldives is a party.
In a related incident, the United Arab Emirates recently sentenced 57 Bangladeshis to lengthy prison terms for protesting on July 19 in solidarity with the student quota-reform protesters in Bangladesh.
