Bangladeshis detained, harassed at Malaysian airport: Adilur

A good number of Bangladeshis are being detained and harassed at Kuala Lumpur airport despite having legal documents to visit Malaysia, said Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of Odhikar, a human rights organisation.

At a press briefing at the organisation's office in the capital yesterday, he said many Bangladeshis are being held at the airport for days, and even months before they were sent back.

“Even the Malaysian authorities did not bother to explain the reasons behind the detention or not allowing them to enter the country,” said Adilur, who was detained at the airport on July 19 and sent back the following day.

The immigration authorities detained him at the airport after he reached there to attend an international seminar. The Supreme Court lawyer still did not know the reason behind it.

However, he said he came to know that he was barred from entering Malaysia on instruction of the "higher authorities". Without elaborating, he said the matter was under investigation by the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission.

“Many Bangladeshi detainees did not have money to buy food. Some were drinking water to survive." 

Adilur said the officials at the airport also misbehaved and did not listen to anyone at the detention rooms. About 60 people were in the room where Adilur was kept after being detained. Majority of them were Bangladeshis, he said.

He said he met some Bangladeshis who had valid visas issued by the Malaysian high commission in Dhaka. “But they were also detained and sent back.”

For example, Adilur said, a young woman was going to meet her husband who has been working in Malaysia for over 11 years. "She also had a visa to visit Malaysia, but she was detained and deported like me."

Meanwhile, UNB reports, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Minister Nurul Islam yesterday asked the officials of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) to make overseas job seekers aware of safe migration and migration cost.

He made the call while inaugurating a day-long workshop at BMET head office in the capital.

Some 25 assistant directors of BMET district offices and 35 principals of Technical Training Centres and the Institute of Marine Technology, run by BMET, attended the workshop.