Body of Abdul Hamid, a July Uprising protester, returns home from UAE prison

The coffin of Abdul Hamid arrived at Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport on Friday morning. 

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Abu Dhabi carried home the body of a man whose dream of a freer Bangladesh ended inside a foreign prison. 

While Hamid's body has finally returned home, 25 other Bangladeshi detainees remain behind bars in the UAE, their fate still uncertain.

Hamid, a resident of Guzra Noapara village of Raozan upazila in Chattogram, once a construction worker in the UAE, had joined the 2024 July Uprising – a protest by thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Abu Dhabi last year, demanding an end to authoritarian rule back home. For that, he was arrested on 21 April and jailed at Al Sadr Prison.

His family says the 38-year-old never recovered from the trauma. 

"He was under constant stress," his wife Mina Akter told The Business Standard. 

"He spoke to us only twice since his arrest. He died of a heart attack on 22 September."

Now, the man who left for the Gulf to earn a living has returned in a coffin, leaving behind two widows and three children with no income, and a plea to the government for help. 

As Hamid's death was natural, his family was not entitled to any compensation from the sponsor. The family received only a cheque of Tk35,000 from the foreign affairs desk in Chattogram.

At the airport, several Bangladeshi migrants who took part in the July Uprising gathered in silence. They said they had marched in Abu Dhabi's streets in solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Bangladesh. unaware that such protests were forbidden in the UAE. 

The result was swift: charges of sedition against 4,500 Bangladeshis, around 215 arrests, and months of uncertainty.

Following the protests there, a UAE court initially sentenced 57 detained Bangladeshis — three to life imprisonment, 53 to 10 years, and one to 11 years. Later 28 on August last year, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus spoke over the phone with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, requesting clemency for the convicted Bangladeshis. 

The UAE government responded positively, and from the first week of September, the released expatriates began returning home.

Thanks to diplomatic efforts by the interim government, 188 detainees have since been repatriated. But 26 others, including Hamid until his death, remained behind bars.

The expatriates who came to receive Hamid's body urged the government to bring back the rest. 

"He died waiting to return home," Shafiul said. "Let the others come back alive."

The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment says it has not stopped trying. 

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said 188 detainees had been freed so far, and efforts to release the remaining 25 are ongoing.

"We have intensified diplomatic and legal measures for their release," said Md Shefayet Hossain, the ministry's public relations officer. 

"The matter is being monitored at the highest level. We're hopeful they will return soon."

According to ministry sources, the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi took formal steps on 22 April to secure the release of those still detained. A list of names was submitted to the UAE's foreign ministry, seeking assistance.

In May, Bangladesh Ambassador Tarek Ahmed met senior Emirati officials both formally and informally to push for their freedom. He cited the example of 188 Bangladeshis who were released earlier through direct intervention by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and requested similar humanitarian consideration for the remaining 25.

However, progress has been slow. On 1 July, the embassy issued a new note requesting consular access to the detainees. A week later on 8 July, the embassy appointed the UAE-based law firm Hamdan Al Kabi Legal Firm to pursue their release through local courts.

Officials at the expatriates' welfare ministry said the government is pursuing a "multi-pronged strategy" – combining diplomatic pressure, legal representation, and humanitarian appeals – to ensure the remaining detainees can come home.

For Hamid's family in a small village in Chattogram, these diplomatic words bring little comfort.