The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it arrested several Bangladeshi expatriates for protesting against their government on UAE soil, where demonstrations are banned.
Protests have swept Bangladesh this month against a quota system for civil service jobs that critics say benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15 years of autocratic rule.
The near-daily marches escalated this week into civil unrest which left more than 120 people dead.
A statement from the UAE’s public prosecutor’s office carried by state news agency WAM did not specify the number of Bangladeshis detained for demonstrating.
It alleged that they “committed crimes of gathering in a public place and protesting against their home government with the intent to incite unrest”.
“The public prosecution has ordered their pre-trial detention pending further investigations,” the statement said, accusing the suspects of endangering the interests and security of the UAE and disrupting public order.
The Emirati authorities did not specify when or where the alleged protests took place or how many people were suspected of taking part.
The unrest sweeping Bangladesh poses a monumental challenge to its 76-year-old prime minister, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
The UAE, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms, is populated mostly by expatriates, many of them south Asians who work as labourers.
Bangladeshis form the third largest expatriate group in the UAE, after Pakistanis and Indians, according to the UAE foreign ministry.
The oil-rich Gulf state bans unauthorised protests and prohibits criticism of rulers or speech that is deemed to create or encourage social unrest.
Defamation, as well as verbal and written insults, whether published or made in private, are punishable by law.
The country’s penal code also criminalises offending foreign states or jeopardising ties with them.
