About 79 Bangladeshis have been languishing in a Kurdistan prison in Iraq for months without trial for illegal entry. The Bangladeshi citizens, who mainly used to work for different municipalities as garbage collectors, house cleaners and construction workers, were in fear that they would be deported to Iran instead of being sent back home, reported Rudaw English, a private online newspaper from the autonomous Kurdistan region, on Friday.
The region shares a long, porous border with Iran. Authorities say the illegal workers often cross in through that border.
As police officials clangs open the door to the large prison cell in Sulaimani where they are held, the inmates promptly rise to attention, the report added.
“We are waiting for the court order to deport them all back to their country,” says Hiwa Sheikh Ali, head of the detention and deportation centre in Sulaimani.
“We have provided them with all their needs, such as food and good accommodation,” Ali added.
In the past several years, due to a booming economy and shortage of local labourers, many foreign workers have flocked to Kurdistan. Hundreds of them are Bangladeshis.
“I sold my house in order to provide a better life for my family,” says Amjad Ali, one of the detainees, who was appointed by his fellow inmates to speak on their behalf. “Now, they are sending me back empty-handed. What am I going to tell my family?”
Amjad has said he has been held for more than eight months without trial.
“They tell us everyday that we will be seen by a judge, but we now hear that they will deport us to Iran,” he explains.
Amjad, whose story is much like those of others for whom he speaks, says he has done nothing wrong.
“I need work. My family calls me and I tell them that I am in prison and cannot work,” he says, adding that if he and his friends are freed, they would be happy to earn the money for their passage and return home voluntarily.
Another arrestee Shamsumya Muhammad has said, “If they deport us to Iran, we will have to pay thousands of dollars and we will be beaten.”
Sulaimani police say they have detained 180 Bangladeshi workers so far, and that most were either deported, or were hired by different companies to stay and work.
Contacted, Shameem Ahsan, director general (external publicity) of the foreign ministry, said the Bangladesh embassy in Baghdad was keeping in touch with the authorities concerned in Iraq since they came to know the issue.
“Following the latest development, the ministry immediately instructed the embassy to ascertain the facts and assess the ground situation and come up with its opinion to enable the government to take appropriate measures in addressing the situation,” the foreign ministry spokesperson added.
-With The Daily Star input
