Seventy-nine Bangladeshis have been lingering in a Kurdistan prison
of Iraq for months for illegal trespassing without trial, reported a
private Kurd online newspaper.
The Bangladeshi citizens, who mainly used to work for different municipalities as garbage collectors, house cleaners and construction workers, are now on biggest fear that they will be deported to Iran instead of being sent back home, Rudaw English, the online newspaper from autonomous Kurdistan area of Iraq, reported on Friday.
The Kurdistan Region shares a long, porous border with Iran. Authorities say that illegal workers often cross in over that border.As the police officer clangs open the door to the large prison cell in Sulaimani where they are held, the inmates promptly rise to attention, the report said.
“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 center in Sulaimani.
“We have provided for all their needs, such as food and good accommodation,” Ali adds.
In the past several years, due to a booming economy and shortage of local labourers, many foreign workers have flocked to the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, among them hundreds of 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 that they are sending me back empty-handed who is going to answer my family?”
Ali says that 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.Ali, whose story is much like those of the others for whom he speaks, says he has done nothing wrong. “I need work. My family call 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.
The Bangladeshi citizens, who mainly used to work for different municipalities as garbage collectors, house cleaners and construction workers, are now on biggest fear that they will be deported to Iran instead of being sent back home, Rudaw English, the online newspaper from autonomous Kurdistan area of Iraq, reported on Friday.
The Kurdistan Region shares a long, porous border with Iran. Authorities say that illegal workers often cross in over that border.As the police officer clangs open the door to the large prison cell in Sulaimani where they are held, the inmates promptly rise to attention, the report said.
“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 center in Sulaimani.
“We have provided for all their needs, such as food and good accommodation,” Ali adds.
In the past several years, due to a booming economy and shortage of local labourers, many foreign workers have flocked to the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, among them hundreds of 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 that they are sending me back empty-handed who is going to answer my family?”
Ali says that 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.Ali, whose story is much like those of the others for whom he speaks, says he has done nothing wrong. “I need work. My family call 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.
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