Expatriates won't face further problem over protests: Info Ministry

The Bangladesh missions abroad are working so that the expatriates do not face any more problems in showing solidarity with the quota movement.

Many people have been prosecuted and sentenced in several countries in the Middle East, 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, according to a release sent by Iftekhar, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

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

A court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced dozens of Bangladeshi nationals to prison, including three for life imprisonment, over protests against their government in the Gulf country, AP reported quoting the state-owned Emirates News Agency, WAM.

The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal on Sunday (July 21) handed 10-year prison sentences to 53 Bangladeshi nationals and an 11-year term to another Bangladeshi national, in addition to the three life imprisonments.

The court ordered the deportation of the Bangladeshis from the UAE following their prison terms.

The protests in the UAE followed weeks of demonstrations in Bangladesh by people upset about a quota system that reserved up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.

The country's top court on Sunday scaled back the controversial system, in a partial victory for the mostly student protesters.

Bangladeshi nationals make up the UAE’s third-largest expatriate community.