State Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE) Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury said on Wednesday 'The UAE government has not yet informed us about suspension of visa issuance to workers of Bangladesh officially'.
"It's true that the Bangladeshi migrants who have demonstrated in UAE violating their laws have damaged the image of Bangladeshis abroad. But, what action has been taken against them, the UAE authorities are yet officially inform us," he said while briefing media about the development at his Eskaton office in the capital.
"The suspension of visa issuance was due to demonstrations by some Bangladeshi migrants working in the country," he said, adding that some Bangladeshi migrants working there have protested over various issues, including their wages and rights."Whatever happened there damaged the country's image in the UAE. They have already taken steps in this regard," he added.
Political parties and labor unions are banned in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms. Broad laws severely restrict freedom of speech, and almost all major local media outlets are either state-owned or state-affiliated.
Earlier, Abu Dhabi Federal Court sentenced dozens of Bangladeshi nationals to prison, including three for life imprisonment, over protests against Bangladesh's government in the Gulf country, UAE media reports.
The Court 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, according to the state-owned Emirates News Agency, WAM.
The court ordered the deportation of the Bangladeshis from the UAE following their prison terms. "The court heard a witness who confirmed that the defendants gathered and organised large-scale marches in several streets of the UAE in protest against decisions made by the Bangladeshi government," WAM reported.
Bangladeshi nationals make up the UAE's third-largest expatriate community. Many of them are low-paid laborers seeking to send money back home to their families. The Emirates' overall population of more than 9.2 million is only 10 per cent Emirati.
On Saturday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates ordered an investigation and an expedited trial of the arrested Bangladeshi nationals.
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.
