57 Bangladeshis sentenced to prison in the Emirates have the right to legal aid

57 Bangladeshis sentenced to prison in the Emirates have the right to legal aid

Staff Correspondent, morenewsbd.com
Staff Correspondent, morenewsbd.com

Published: 12:42 13 August 2024

The National Human Rights Commission has accepted a suo motu complaint (Suomto) in the news published under the title of '57 Bangladeshis jailed for protesting in the Emirates'.

The commission asked the concerned embassy to inform the commission as soon as possible about the steps taken by the concerned embassy to free the 57 Bangladeshi nationals sentenced by the UAE court.
Human Rights Commission Public Relations Officer Yusha Rahman said on Tuesday (August 13) that a court of the country has sentenced 57 Bangladeshis to various terms of imprisonment for protesting in the United Arab Emirates in solidarity with the quota reform movement. Three of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment, 53 to 10 years and the remaining one to 11 years.
The state-owned news agency of the emirate, Emirates News Agency (WAM), said that they will be sent back to their country at the end of their prison terms.
According to the WAM report, these people were protesting against the government of their own country. An eyewitness confirmed that they organized large-scale protests on several roads in the UAE to protest against the decision taken by the Bangladesh government.
The report of Human Rights Commission mentions that 57 Bangladeshi nationals have been tried and sentenced by the United Arab Emirates court in just 48 hours for protesting against the killing of students in the quota reform movement in Dubai. The Commission believes that any Bangladeshi citizen has the right to get legal assistance in case of legal complications abroad. For this purpose, it is advisable to take necessary steps to provide legal assistance to the victims.
In this situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the commission by September 5 about the steps taken by the concerned embassy regarding the release of 57 Bangladeshi nationals sentenced by the UAE court.

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