Saudi jails holding highest 5,746 of 11,450 Bangladeshi prisoners worldwide: Foreign minister

There are 11,450 Bangladeshis, including migrant workers, in jails across 31 countries and Saudi Arabia alone holds 5,746 of them, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said today (1 July).

While replying to a query of ruling Awami League MP from reserved seats for women Farida Yasmin at a parliament session, the foreign minister said, "According to information from different missions of Bangladesh abroad, maximum 5,746 Bangladeshis are in jails of Saudi Arabia. Jails in Portugal, Japan and Belgium have two Bangladeshis in each."

The number of jailed Bangladeshis in other countries are: 1,579 Bangladeshis in India, 508 in Türkiye, 420 in Oman, 415 in Qatar, 414 in Greece, 404 in UAE, 385 in South Africa, 358 in Myanmar, 219 Malaysia, 217 in Iraq, 191 in China, 122 in Hong Kong, 100 in Jordan, 81 in Italy, 70 in Maldives, 66 in Singapore, 49 in Indonesia, 28 in Lebanon, 19 in Spain, 16 in Brunei, nine in Libya, six each in Egypt and Korea, five in Algeria, four in Thailand and four in Mozambique.

To another question from Awami League MP HM Badiuzzaman, he said, "At present, no Bangladeshis have been arrested and imprisoned for entering India."

To a query from Jatiya Party Secretary General and Opposition Chief Whip Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the foreign minister said the United States has never provided duty-free and quota-free facilities for the export of garment products from Bangladesh there.