Foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said on Wednesday that arrest and imprisonment of 57 Bangladeshi nationals over protests in the United Arab Emirates were in accordance with their internal law.
He said that several Bangladeshis were also arrested in the Saudi Arabia, single destination for the largest number of Bangladeshi migrant workers, and sent them to jail for holding demonstrations in solidarity with quota reform student protest in Bangladesh.聽
鈥榃e have come to know that three Bangladeshis were given life term, one was sentenced to 11 years and others to 10 years of imprisonment each in the UAE for demonstrations in violation of the law of their land,鈥� the minister said while briefing reporters at state guesthouse Padma on the visit of a group of foreign diplomats to the government establishments set on fire and damaged in the violence during the quota reform protests.聽
Asked whether Bangladesh authorities had communicated with the UAE authorities over the arrests of the Bangladeshis, mostly migrant workers, Hasan said that it was their internal affair.
鈥楾hey were arrested and sentenced to jail for violating the law of their land,鈥� he added.
He said that the government had information that Pakistani expatriates joined a demonstration of Bangladeshi community in front of the Bangladesh mission in Los Angeles in the United States of America.
He also said that the link of Pakistanis living in different countries was found in organising demonstrations in solidarity with student protests in Bangladesh.
The foreign minister said that it was completely a false report that the USE, a major destination of Bangladeshi migrant workers, had suspended visas for Bangladeshis.聽
鈥榃e have talked to the UAE ambassador in Dhaka who assured that there is no such development,鈥� he added.聽
Expatriates鈥� welfare and overseas minister Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury said that Bangladesh would not interfere in the arrests and trial of Bangladeshis in the UAE since it was the state鈥檚 internal affair.
He said that they had no such information about the suspension of the UAE visas for Bangladeshis.
The foreign minister on the day took at least 49 foreign diplomats, including those from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Germany, China and Japan in Dhaka, to the spots of destruction at BTV station, Setu Bhaban and the Directorate General of Health Services 鈥榮o that they could see for themselves how the state properties were destroyed and set on fire during the street violence鈥� that began on July 18.
Emirati authorities arbitrarily detained, convicted and sentenced to long prison terms 57 Bangladeshi protesters following a rapid trial based on their participation in peaceful demonstrations in the United Arab Emirates, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
The sentences, ranging from 10 years to life in prison, followed abusively fast judicial proceedings that raise serious concerns about fairness and due process.
On July 19, groups of mostly Bangladeshi citizens who live in the UAE carried out peaceful solidarity protests in multiple locations across the country to stand with student protesters in Bangladesh.
On July 20, the UAE attorney general announced an investigation into the protests and, just one day later, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal announced the conviction and handed down sentences for all 57 defendants.
鈥楾here is no way defendants can receive a fair trial when the investigation was launched and completed, trial commenced, and verdict rendered in less than 48 hours,鈥� said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch, as quoted in the statement.
On Sunday, Bangladesh鈥檚 Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas which sparked the student-led protests in which at least 163 people were killed.
The court鈥檚 Appellate Division directed that 93 per cent of government jobs would be open to candidates on merit, without quotas.