29 Bangladeshi job seekers detained in Bangkok
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Twenty-nine Bangladeshis have been waiting to hear from the Bangladesh embassy for the last four months about their repatriation after landing in an immigration detention centre in Bangkok bdnews24.com.
Coastguards of Myanmar and Thailand detained them in the sea as they started a dangerous journey by a fishing trawler to reach Malaysia to eke out a better living, according to the Bangkok correspondent of the news agency.
Officials at the foreign ministry, however, told the agency that the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok had had no information about the detention of Bangladeshis in Thailand.
Iqbal Hossain (25), one of the detained illegal migrants, told the agency in the Thai capital that the poor people, mostly day-labourers from Cox's Bazar and Patia, were detained and treated badly by Myanmar coastguards.
Hossain, who had his national ID (2222401529919) issued from Cox's Bazaar district, said he boarded a boat after paying Tk 16,000 to a manpower agent. He managed the money by selling off gold ornaments of his mother and sister.
Mohammed Hossain (17), a grade 10 student, could not walk properly after being tortured by the Myanmarese coastguards.
He said they were pushed to the Thai coast in early January this year.
Thai coast guard caught them 11 days after they had set out and passed them as Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
However, he said, the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok did not provide them with any support. "So that we could not approach the Thai authorities about our repatriation."
He said he had boarded the trawler on December 23 from Baiskhaslki, Gondamara village.
"I urge Bangladesh government to take me back or I will commit suicide," Hossain, who claimed himself to be the only survivor of the travelled group, said.
A Thai NGO, People's Empowerment, has been trying to provide them with food during the month of Ramadan.
Coastguards of Myanmar and Thailand detained them in the sea as they started a dangerous journey by a fishing trawler to reach Malaysia to eke out a better living, according to the Bangkok correspondent of the news agency.
Officials at the foreign ministry, however, told the agency that the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok had had no information about the detention of Bangladeshis in Thailand.
Iqbal Hossain (25), one of the detained illegal migrants, told the agency in the Thai capital that the poor people, mostly day-labourers from Cox's Bazar and Patia, were detained and treated badly by Myanmar coastguards.
Hossain, who had his national ID (2222401529919) issued from Cox's Bazaar district, said he boarded a boat after paying Tk 16,000 to a manpower agent. He managed the money by selling off gold ornaments of his mother and sister.
Mohammed Hossain (17), a grade 10 student, could not walk properly after being tortured by the Myanmarese coastguards.
He said they were pushed to the Thai coast in early January this year.
Thai coast guard caught them 11 days after they had set out and passed them as Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
However, he said, the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok did not provide them with any support. "So that we could not approach the Thai authorities about our repatriation."
He said he had boarded the trawler on December 23 from Baiskhaslki, Gondamara village.
"I urge Bangladesh government to take me back or I will commit suicide," Hossain, who claimed himself to be the only survivor of the travelled group, said.
A Thai NGO, People's Empowerment, has been trying to provide them with food during the month of Ramadan.