[ALOCHONA] Kuwait to deport foreigners who go on strike

Sunday, the Interior Ministry warned foreigners in a separate statement against demonstrating and threatened to deport any of them who organize protests.

Many Asian laborers have held sit-ins in recent weeks to protest nonpayment of salaries. Some two-thirds of Kuwait's population of over 3 million are foreign workers. Unskilled laborers, mostly from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, often complain of lack of payment and poor living conditions.

Kuwaiti law gives the interior minister the right to deport any foreign resident believed to be a threat to security.

Kuwait to deport foreigners who go on strike

AFP

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ihrgHQKVOszVtlVg90C20FphedbQ

 

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — The Gulf state of Kuwait warned on Saturday that it will deport foreigners who instigate gatherings and strikes and will arrest and prosecute the participants.

 

"The ministry has noticed recently that some Arab and foreign communities resort to gatherings and strikes for various reasons, which are illegal actions and undermine security," the interior ministry said in a statement cited by the official KUNA new agency.

 

"The ministry will take necessary measures to arrest and prosecute participants in such gatherings and will deport those proved to have instigated others," it warned.

 

The statement comes after the authorities earlier this week deported about a dozen Bangladeshi cleaners who were charged with instigating a strike by hundreds of fellow workers to demand payment of salaries.

 

The workers, hired by a local private company under contract with the education ministry, claimed they had not been paid for the past five months and their residence permits expired a year ago.

 

Foreigners living and working in Kuwait can be deported under a court ruling and under so-called administrative deportation which is controlled by senior interior ministry officials.

 

Administrative deportation has been strongly criticised by human rights groups as "illegal" because expatriates have no right to appeal its decisions.

 

There are around 2.35 million foreigners in the oil-rich emirate and a native population of just over one million.

 

 

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