The President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ordered the pardon of the accused Bangladeshis who gathered and caused riots in several of the Emirates during the past month, and the cancellation of the sentences of those who were convicted and their deportation from the country.
According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Counselor Dr. Hamad Al Shamsi, the Attorney General of the UAE, issued a decision to suspend the implementation of the sentence and take measures to deport the accused from the country, as quoted by the Arabic daily, Al Qabas.
The Attorney General called on everyone living in the United Arab Emirates to abide by its laws, stressing that freedom of expression is a right protected by the State and its laws, which prevent it from deviating into a means of harming the interests of the state and those living in it.
On July 22, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the UAE ruled to convict 57 Bangladeshi defendants in the case known in the media as the “assembly case.”
According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the court sentenced three defendants to life imprisonment for calling for and inciting demonstrations with the aim of pressuring their country’s government, while it sentenced 53 others to 10 years in prison, and one defendant who entered the country illegally and participated in the gathering to 11 years in prison.
The court also ruled to deport all convicts from the country after serving their sentences.
