Abu Dhabi

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday (July 22)  handed lengthy prison sentences to 57 Bangladeshi expatriates for protesting against their government while in the Gulf country where demonstrations are banned.

The protests in the UAE came after weeks of protests in Bangladesh by demonstrators protesting a quota system that reserved up to 30 per cent of government jobs for veterans who fought in the 1971 war.

On Sunday, the protesters saw a partial victory as the Bangladesh Supreme Court scaled back -- but did not abolish -– the controversial quota system for civil service job applicants after the scheme's reintroduction last month.

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The prison sentences

State media reported on Monday that three Bangladeshi expatriates were sentenced to life, 53 others to 10 years in prison and one to 11 years for participating in alleged protests.

Also read | Bangladesh protests: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee offers shelter to ‘helpless people’

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The defendants gathered and incited riots in several streets across the UAE last Friday. The charges follow a swift investigation that was ordered on Friday.

Political parties and labour unions are banned in the UAE. Broad laws severely restrict freedom of speech and almost all major local media are either state-owned or state-affiliated outlets.

Bangladeshis form the third largest expatriate group in the UAE, after Pakistanis and Indians, according to the UAE foreign ministry. 

B'desh student group calls 48-hr halt to protests

The Students Against Discrimination, which has been participating in the anti-quota protests in Bangladesh, said on Monday that it was halting the agitation for 48 hours. "We are suspending the shutdown protests for 48 hours," the group's leader Nahid Islam told the news agency AFP.

"We demand that during this period the government withdraws the curfew, restores the internet and stops targeting the student protesters," Islam added.

(With inputs from agencies)