DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have ordered an investigation and speedy trial of a Bangladeshi national arrested in the Gulf state for protesting against his government, state media reported.
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The protests in the UAE follow weeks of protests in Bangladesh by demonstrators protesting against a quota system that reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. The country’s supreme court on Sunday rolled back the controversial system, handing a partial victory to student protesters.
The UAE public prosecutor’s office on Saturday charged the Bangladeshi national with several offences, including “gathering in a public place with intent to incite disturbance and protest against his government”, obstructing law enforcement, causing harm to others and damaging property, according to the state-run Emirates News Agency WAM.
“Based on the results of the preliminary investigation, the prosecutor ordered the defendants to be held in pre-trial detention pending further investigation,” WAM reported.
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The report did not disclose how many Bangladeshis were arrested.
Bangladeshi nationals make up the third-largest expat community in the UAE, many of whom are low-wage workers looking to send remittances back to their families back home. Only 10 percent of the UAE’s total population of more than 9.2 million are Emirati nationals.
Political parties and trade unions are banned in the seven-emirate federation, broad laws severely restrict freedom of speech and nearly all major domestic media outlets are state-run or state-controlled.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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