State minister for information Mohammad Ali Arafat said that Bangladesh missions aboard were working on the instructions of prime minister Sheikh Hasina so that any more Bangladeshi expatriates were not in further troubles over protests in solidarity with quota reform student movement back home.
He said that the prime minister and her government were worried about arrests and jailing of Bangladeshis for demonstrating in the United Arab Emirates and some other Arab nations.聽
鈥極ur foreign missions abroad are working on the instructions of prime minister Sheikh Hasina so that no more Bangladeshis get into trouble over solidarity protests as a good number of them were already brought to book and jailed in the UAE and different Arab countries for holding demonstrations in solidarity with the quota movement,鈥� said Arafat in a statement shared on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday in a contradiction to a recent statement made by foreign minister Hasan Mahmud.
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 Saudi Arabia, a single destination for the largest number of Bangladeshi migrant workers, and sent 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鈥� and others 10 years鈥� imprisonment each in the UAE for demonstrations in violation of the law of the 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.
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.
