Bangladesh missions working to ensure expatriates do not face further problems due to protests: Ministry of Information

Bangladeshi foreign missions are working to ensure that expatriates no longer have to face any problems when it comes to showing solidarity with the quota movement.

According to a statement sent by Iftekhar, director of public relations at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a number of people have been charged and convicted in several Middle Eastern countries, including the United Arab Emirates, for showing solidarity with the quota movement, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government are very concerned about them.

The government is committed to ensuring the safety of expatriates, it added.

A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced dozens of Bangladeshis to prison terms, including three to life in prison, for protesting against the Gulf country’s government, the AP reported, citing state-owned Emirates News Agency, WAM.

The Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (July 21) sentenced 53 Bangladeshis to 10 years in prison and another Bangladeshi to 11 years in prison, in addition to three life sentences.

A court has ordered the deportation of Bangladeshi nationals from the United Arab Emirates after they serve their prison sentences.

The protests in the UAE followed weeks of demonstrations in Bangladesh, in which people were outraged by a quota system that reserved up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war. The country’s top court on Sunday curbed the controversial system, in a partial victory for protesters, mostly students.

Bangladeshis constitute the third largest expatriate community in the United Arab Emirates.