The interim government鈥檚 foreign affairs adviser, Md Touhid Hossain, said on Sunday that chief adviser Mohammad Yunus would talk to the higher authorities of the United Arab Emirates for release of the Bangladeshis arrested and sentenced in the UAE for holding protest rallies in solidarity with anti-discrimination student protests in Bangladesh.
At least 57 Bangladeshis were arrested and sentenced in the UAE for demonstrations earlier in July聽聽 supporting the countrywide student protests in Bangladesh for reforming the quota system in government jobs.
鈥楾he chief adviser in an informal meeting of the council of advisers today has said that he himself would contact the UAE higher authorities for release of all those Bangladeshi expatriates arrested and sentenced there for demonstrations in support of the student protests in Bangladesh,鈥櫬� Touhid told reporters at the foreign ministry on the first day at his office.
He said that they demonstrated in violation of the laws and rules in the UAE as they might have forgotten local laws due to their sentiment.聽
Awami League president Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India amid a mass uprising led by student protesters against her regime on August 5.
Emirati authorities arbitrarily detained, convicted and sentenced 57 Bangladeshi protesters to long prison terms following a rapid trial based on their participation in peaceful demonstrations in the United Arab Emirates, Human Rights Watch, an international rights body, said in a statement on Wednesday.
On July 24, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said that arrest and imprisonment of 57 Bangladeshi nationals over protests in the United Arab Emirates were in accordance with their internal law and termed it as the UAE鈥檚 internal matter.
