Saudi website stirs hatred against Bangladeshis

February 19, 2008 | By | Reply More

Translated page of www.antirat.comA Saudi-based website aims to stir hatred against 1.2 million Bangladeshis working in the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Under www.antirat.com the website features page after page of alleged crimes and misdemeanours committed by Bangladeshi labourers documented with photographs, ranging from the serious ‘rape and running prostitution ring’ to the frankly ridiculous ‘unhygienic cooking’ practices.

A plethora of crimes have been compiled from articles said to have been published in Saudi newspapers, and the site is regularly updated with the most recent article published on the website on Monday.

The regularity of the update seems to indicate that the website owners are trying to prove that Bangladeshi workers are breaking the law almost on a daily basis.

The most-read article on the website has six photographs of policemen and alleged offenders with captions.

In the first photo a man wearing the traditional Arab headgear and robe is standing in front of rows of shelves with detergents – apparently in a shop – and seizing the head of a man sitting on the floor.

The caption reads: ‘Crime no 1: Riyadh police catches a Bangladeshi in possession of 2,800 fake international phone cards.’

‘A Bangladeshi was arrested during a security raid in Riyadh while trying to run away after seeing the police. After he was arrested and searched, a piece of gold was seized, which is likely to be stolen,’ another caption reads.

A photograph of two men preparing food has the caption: ‘Workers from Bangladesh are preparing Ramadan meals in an unhygienic way and food that is gone off in their homes.’

The above acts are listed in the article under ‘The most atrocious crimes of Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.’

The selling of sexual stimulants, possession of occult talismans, rape and having sex with Indonesian maids are other examples cited in articles incriminating Bangladeshis.

With a reported 80,000 hits in two weeks the website seems to be succeeding in drawing a big following. The aim is to encourage readers to pressure the Saudi authorities to expel Bangladeshis and fingerprint them in case they try to re-enter on false passports.

Three Saudis, who keep their identities secret, have reportedly launched the online campaign under the motto ‘No to depravity: Together against the depraved Bangladeshi workforce in our country.’

Another of the most popular articles on the website purports to be from the daily Saudi newspaper al-Jazeera. It shows official statistics revealing the high criminality among Bangladeshis.

‘Raids by police targeting offending workers in many parts of the kingdom showed that the highest number of violations have been recorded by Bangladeshi labourers,’ the article states.

Bangladeshis, according to the same article, have also been involved in 114 cases of homosexuality, a crime punishable by death under the strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, enforced in Saudi Arabia.

Bangladeshi women too have their share in criminality, the article says, with 114 of them committing law-breaking ‘violations.’

‘In every community there are criminals. This is an organized hate campaign against our labourers,’ M Shah Allam Bakshi, an economic minister at Bangladesh’s embassy in Riyadh, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The embassy would officially ask the Saudi government to stop the propaganda on the website, the diplomat said. But he refrained from criticizing the media from which the website is drawing the material for its campaign.

Saudi Arabia’s Consultative Council has recently debated the issue. Labour Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi reportedly said his ministry was working hard to limit the number of Bangladeshi workers in the country.

Millions of low-paid workers from south Asia are fuelling the booming economies of the oil-rich Arab countries. In the absence of local laws and unions that protect labour rights and set minimum wages, cases of abuse of Asian workers are commonplace.

The most common complaints among Bangladeshi workers are very low wages and employers defaulting on payment or delaying it, Bakshi said.

Source: dpa

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Category: Opinion

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  1. Global Voices Online » Bangladesh: Hatered and a website | February 19, 2008
  1. abid bahar says:

    -Can someone please provide the link to this site?
    -The mentioned allegations are very simplistic acts to be called crimes. But these are the socalled naive Islamic puritan Wahabis to understand this.
    -In the name of Saudies, are there some third parties, involved?
    – To my knowledge, many of these workers are the unfortunate stateless Rohingya people from Burma, entered Saudi Arabia with Bangladeshi passport.

  2. Narayan says:

    this is a clear plot against bangladeshi workers. behind this might be the enemies from bangladesh itself who tried to make destruction in homeland and could not succeed. They have choosen an initial to prove the lawlessness of the peoples. There might be crimes, but most of the crimes are not fatal. Besides there are lots of bangladeshis who are not Bangladeshi, but have a bagladeshi passport.

    I my self saw (when I was in S.Arabia.) the passport holder bangladeshis do most of the crimes than the original Bangladeshis. The original bangladeshis help to grow the economy. But the passport holders are just earning for them selves and they don’t have any responsibility for any country.

    By the way, I hope the Government can promote a special tribunal law to protect and stop crime internationally by assisting the other countries law makers.

    The Bangladeshi lawyers can communicate with the countries where the circumstances are happening and use its best effort to eradicate the crimes.

    The labourers, who are receiving lower wages must be paid back by the agents they used to get visa from. but

  3. ruv says:

    ki akta obostha tai na
    bolen ki korte pari
    monta chai ki kori jibon tas shesh saudi arab aya
    ki akta obostha bolento ki ki bostha ki akta obostha ki obostha bal sima ache tai na
    ki aka obostha ki akata obostha pagi hoyla y to moja hobe
    tai na
    bolen to kim kori
    monta kharap

  4. salim ahmed says:

    be sure it is the work of RAW n Indian marwaris.they r interested to capture the labour market of B’desh n also the garment sector .they want to weaken B’desh economy n thereby take ctg port n corridor to 7 sisters states n many more.

  5. zaman says:

    abid bahar, pls note that the Rohigas r the decendents bangalis from teknaf,satkania n mirsarai etc. pls c the history.they do not have this capaccity.the politics of click n intrigue r the instruments of big politicians.Indians canplay very efficiently .dont forget how india occupied Sikkim n China occupied Tibet. the Indians lost very badly with china in 1962.

  6. dr rafiq says:

    let us come 2 the corruptions done by Bangladesh Embassy in KSA.they have divided our citizens into 2 groups. 1.professional 2.labourers. and they charge 125sr for labourer n 625sr from professionals for issuing new PP book.from where they get this law?the constitution of B’desh does not have this provision.No embassy of any country charge like this. For every consular jobs the the embassy staffs charge five times from professionals than tne labourer.Not only this the. the staff issue only aslip with the amount mentioned on it. And more.the staff will ask u 2 produce bank slips for the immediate past 3 months for money transfer 2 B’desh.it is not within their jurisdiction.IN THIS WAY they blackmail citizens into giving them the money. the ambassoder his wife n all the diplomatic n nondiplomatic staffs share this money.above all the officers will never be present in his office 2 answer any question.I have got the proof of the slips issued 2 different citizens.Pls pass it on to as many websites as possible n expose their hypocrisy.I m a civil engineer working in KSA for a long time.

  7. dr rafiq says:

    three Saudis?forget it. the saudis r known for their weak work culture.they will never bother what others r doing.they r busy with their own work.they r proud people n they will never keep their identity secret.and they receive threat from unknown peoples?forget all these.and the word “antirat” is predominently used in the indian subcontinent.from all these analyses one can be cocksure that it is the work of cowardly indian secret agent “raw” n indian marwaris.this is just to destabilise B’desh economy.God Willing they will not succeed.

  8. Ziaul Hoque says:

    Well the saudis are theones who runs the crime zone not others and bangladeshi people is just out of question. But yes, Bangladeshi people get caught where as saudi don’t. In every state in saudia arabia, saudi people are priviledged to be under cover by police whenever they are related with a crime. Police have a tendency to polish the matter so smoothly to save the reputation of saudis.

    I know several history of bd female labours workin in private residence getting raped by whole family and when they go to police, they call the head of the residence and just ask for the money to send her back to bd so that the saudi stays undercover.

    A dirty practise on a divine land.

  9. dr rafiq says:

    only 5 comments from 140 million B’deshis.it seems it is no body’s concern.this is our culture.

  10. Abu Abdullah says:

    Some Bangladeshi workers may occured crime in Saudi but not all, Bangladeshi peoples are working in saudi at avery low wage even emploers never pay them thier wages in due time.There are definite conspirecy behind this propaganda against Bangladeshi worker evnthough Indain & Pakistani peoples have more involvement in more big crimes but no boday claim anything against them. Saudi peoples are also involve in crimes like snatching mobile phone from road, hijacks money and iqama. Mostly Saudi youngs are involved in homosexuality and housemaid rapping frequently, but they are good as they have oil.

  11. Abu Abdullah says:

    There is definite conspirecy of present situation of Bnagladeshi’s in the GCC countries. Not only in Saudi also in other GCC countries are same situation for BD people.Any one can say the real fact?? recently I got a good job offer from Kuwait but due to visa problem I couldn’t avail the offer…..
    Here in Saudi Indian are involved in many big crimes but thier crimes never publish in news papaer, last year a wine factory has discovered in Adama, Dammam area run by Indian Kerala peoples but it didn’t go under newspaper front page coverage.If Bangladeshi people do any neglegible crime even that comes in front of page of paper.

    As per local saudi nespaper news now this is a common phenomona among young saudies to kidnapped another teenage boy for rapping, if any body takes interview of house madis who are working in saudi arabia (Filipino, Indonesia or any other nationals) he will found a clear view of 90% house maids are sexsually abused by whole family (Father, Son and thier friend)….
    Allah knows better…….May Allah help us in this situation and save us from any illegal works……….Allah knows…Hope Time will come when Saudi’s will lost thier proudity…

  12. Saleh Mohammed says:

    Pakistani and Indian peoples made Saudi’es become stupid to hidden thier crimes in the holy land. See the below news published in Arab News on March 20:
    JEDDAH, 20 March 2008 — Police said yesterday 20 Pakistani men between the ages of 18 and 25 have been arrested on suspicion of being members of a criminal gang believed to be kidnapping youngsters, filming them being raped and then using the footage to extort money. A series of busts began with the arrest of four suspects in a getaway vehicle described by a man who was hospitalized after being attacked by four youths when he confronted them about a complaint of harassment by his son. The men were tailed and arrested. They were found in possession of an unspecified number of mobile phones that contained videos of children being sexually assaulted. The interrogation of the four men resulted in the arrests of 16 others, a police source told Arab News.
    ==================================================

  13. Engineer Rumel says:

    Hello everybody!

    in this page found so many true msg which is happening here. Bangladesh is a poor country but people of Bangladesh is well & big hearted its known to world not only Saudi. In Saudi most of the illiterate Bangladeshi people coming here cheap rated labor cost who really care his stability to continue here because they are coming here after sell his own home or land or any other depending back up, so now yourself think that when you don’t have any back up to back your home you are never going to take or do any kind of risk which may happen to back your home & let die together with other family members. Sure they care lot & I assure most of the Bangladeshi people who really obey Saudi rules & regulations. ask the people who really working in Bangladeshi & you’ll get the true how good they are. what are the things is happening all these are available in each & every country but I am sure these are not main fact some other fact is created this Today’s situation by the very few number of people who fight for nothing to get unnecessary fighting & quarrel with other Bangladeshi which instructing by some politician who dividing Bangladesh by BNP/AL/JP/JI oooooooooor by the District/Division and sure behind this you’ll see sheltering by some biggest hand which BD Gov. should control.

    Suggestion to Bangladeshi Gov. if really want improve image of Bangladesh & develop first should be stop foreign politics. Everyone should feel our Bangladesh & we are same. Politics & state should leave from mind before foot up on Bangladesh air port. If anyone like to involve let him take back when arrive in BD

    Good luck Bangladesh!!!

  14. Saleh Mohammed says:

    Dear All,
    Pls see the below message published in Abarnews on 12th June, 2008, who are commiting crimes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
    =================================================
    JEDDAH, 12 June 2008 — Two Pakistani nationals were arrested and charged with theft of iron rods used in construction in Al-Khomra outside Jeddah yesterday. A police patrol found the two driving about the warehouse city in Al-Khomra carrying 20 tons of steel in a truck.

    Police allege that the two men tried to bribe the arresting officer with SR500. They also allegedly admitted to the police that they had stolen the iron from various construction sites. One of them did not have residency documents.

    In a separate incident, Jeddah police arrested a seven-member gang of Ethiopian nationals, including three women, while investigating a robbery case.

    The police were on their trail after a Saudi complained of being robbed of SR21,000 from his car, according to a police officer. The man had collected SR300,000 from his bank in Mosaedia on Madinah Road on Wednesday and locked it in the glove compartment of his car.

    Police said an Eritrean identified only as Ordo, who is believed to be the ring leader, pried open the car window with a special apparatus and took SR21,000 cash, which was left on the front seat. He did not get enough time to break open the locked glove compartment.

    Meanwhile, customs authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle 2.5 million Captagon pills bound for Jeddah at a border crossing near Tabuk. Police arrested the smuggler’s agent in Jeddah.

  15. Abu Khaled says:

    As a Saudi who faced and encountered different situations with Bangladishis, we are against no one but we felt that Bangladishis or those you call passport holders which I doubt it because they are really Bangladishis and we can differentiate them from others are careless and will not abide by the rules and regulations of any country not just Saudi Arabia it is in their blood they like to violate laws and they think this is smart and they only think how to gain money and nothing else. Imagine if ppl from any nation come to your country and start mistreating you as a citizen and they wants to put their hands on anything the could reach to of course this will piss you off big time. By the way our newspapers does’nt lie and cannot fabricate things against certain ppl, yes Pakistanis, Yemenis, Philipinos some of them might commit crimes but not majority, we heard unfortunately that most of the Bangalis coming to Saudi Arabia are crime offenders and had served in jail for yrs depending on their specialty “I mean their crime” our government is very strong and cannot let any newspaper or journalist smears other nation for nothing, we’ve seen what Bangalis do on national tv when they get caught while practicing their crimes so no one can say they are not doing or not a real Bangalis. They even don’t think that we Saudis are fellow muslim and they don’t care about Islam as they rape our kids, kidnap and rape women, do all sorts of forgeries so how do ask us to be rational and like their presence in our country!

  16. Abdullah says:

    http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/05/04/article339969.html#20

    Translated Text by Google;

    Nationalities of the perpetrators

    Came in ranked first in terms of Yemeni (Kalimantan) sexual crimes by “21.09%” ,Followed in second place by Pakistani nationality “18.6%”. In the third place of Indian nationality by “10.2%”. In fourth place A Bangladeshi in terms of sexual crimes by “9.7%”. The Egyptian citizenship, reaching or “4.6%” and came in fifth place. Followed in sixth place, in terms of committing crimes, Sudanese nationality rate “of 4.5%.” Then came the seventh, in terms of committing sexual offences Indonesian rate “3.2%”. Ranked eighth, ninth and tenth, and for themselves “3%” to each of: force: Syrian, Ethiopian and Filipino. While the Chadian nationality came in ranked atheist ten rate “2.7%”.

    By Prince Nayef in the framework of his eagerness to deal with crimes and negative phenomena from the perspective of (a scientific and systematic) before they escalate into society
    Study of “security”: 91% of crimes expats in Riyadh and Mecca and Medina, Jizan and the majority of offenders “illiterate” and their professions do not require community

  17. @Rumel says:

    i’ll not support if anyone says saudi people r bad. yes they take money from the workers who working out from his employer but if you search you’ll found his (Kafil) business on it.. & he is the one taking care of any issue we face…
    some of persons are not good i have a friend (house driver) working in exit-15 his owner doesn’t give him salary on time 3/4 month salary always keeping on hand so that worker how can he spend his life? how he can send money for his family needy… once i try to talk with our Embassy they says we can do nothing for this, only the thing i can help to let him go back to BD its not a solution.
    this the strong part should be solve by BD gov. & send the expert people to solve this type to issue… saudi gov. is helpful to do this. just nock on right door but no one go on.
    i’ll give an example: Pakistan Embassy gone to Pr. Talal several times to get some help for young generation study & 2008 was the 3 time (each time +100 student) Pr. Talal donated to free study for Pakistani’s at Arab Open University on B. Sc. Engineering & BBA. I passed this msg to BD embassy Riyadh but they said we have a lot other work to do so we don’t have time to run for something like this & they are saying who is here to study? All of us here to earn money he suggested me not to take headech on this type of thing & just think how can you earn some more… so where we can learn? If this type of advice from A gread people of BD. They should be more expert & BD gov. should take a long time program for the nation. They shouldn’t take so easy… Saudi arab is most important country for Bangladeshi workers… BD gov will have loss a big support if they can’t change the image of Bangladeshi to Saudi. we are ready to support them but they should lead us well.
    I can challenge that BD people are genius then any other nation. You may follow most of new worker coming here as illiterate labor but within a year he become a technician in any field.
    We dare to fight
    We dare to work right
    We dare to work hard

    May Allah Blessing all of us.

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