“Bangladesh: Hundreds of Arbitrarily detained migrant workers must be released”, 01 October 2020

The Bangladeshi authorities must immediately release at least 370 Bangladeshi migrant workers who were arbitrarily detained between July and September following their return to the country, said Amnesty International.

In the fourth of a series of mass arrests of migrant workers for alleged criminal activity abroad, 32 people were detained in Dhaka on Sunday 28 September for "tarnishing the image of the country" … no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing has been shown...

The arbitrary detention of the workers violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a state party.

Between July and September, Bangladeshi police have jailed at least 370 returning migrant workers under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows for arrest on the basis of having “reasonable suspicion” that a person may have been involved in a criminal offence outside Bangladesh.