The United Arab Emirates has jailed 57 Bangladeshi expatriates for protesting against their home government while in the Gulf country where demonstrations are banned, state media reported on Monday. 

Three Bangladeshi expatriates were sentenced to life, 53 others to 10 years in prison and one to 11 years for participating in alleged protests, said the official Emirati news agency, WAM.  On Monday, the defendants had “gathered and incited riots in several streets across the UAE on Friday, said WAM.

The charges follow a swift investigation that was ordered on Friday, according to WAM. A witness 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,” it added. They would be deported after the completion of their prison terms, it further added.

Protests have swept Bangladesh last week over a quota reform for the government jobs in which more than 160 people lost their lives while thousands got injured, many of them were seriously injured. More than 2500 people, many of them opposition activists and leaders, have been arrested across the country in the last four days, according to police.

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

The country’s penal code criminalises offending foreign states or jeopardising ties with them.

By – Navalsang Parmar (Dhaka)