Lawyer claims 41 expats related to Island Expert unrest deported

41 expatriate laborers who worked for Island Experts Private Limited and were arrested following an unrest in Hulhumalé, have been deported.

This was revealed via a statement publicized by the legal team of Bangladeshi expatriate M.D Ronnie, who was among those arrested during the unrest in Hulhumalé.

The statement reads that the expatriate workers in the construction of the apartment buildings of Maldives Police Service (MPS) and Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) site in Hulhumalé, were neglected their monthly remuneration and were deprived of basic necessities by Island Expert Private Limited.

These workers had expressed their concerns over several occasions even before.

The expatriate workers protested near their designated accommodation building on July 13 after Island Expert failed to take the necessary action to resolve the issues.

After confrontations between police officers and some protestors, authorities arrested M.D Ronnie and 40 other expatriate workers, some of whom were handpicked, hours after the protest ended.

Some of those arrested, were not even involved in the protest, reads the statement.

In spite of the facts provided, the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court slapped a 15-day remand on M.D Ronnie during a remand hearing on July 14. He was detained at the Dhoonidhoo Detention Center at the time.

M.D Ronnie is to have told his legal team that he was working for Island Experts since immigrating to the Maldives in 2015 but in 2016, the company employed him under a permanent contract and M.D Ronnie claimed that he paid a deposit of MVR 44,000 to the company.

In light of this, the company owes M.D Ronnie MVR 44,000, excluding unpaid monthly salaries.

He accused the company of having failed to pay up salaries for some of his co-workers as well.

The legal team further claimed that all of its attempts to meet with their client were thwarted, following which they reached out to the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives requesting an inquiry into the case, on July 28.

HRCM is to have responded by saying that they have launched investigations but are unable to confirm if any detainee has been transferred to the Maldives Immigration or been deported from Maldives.

M.D Ronnie’s legal team later came to know that him and his co-workers have been deported.

While it is uncertain whether the salaries of all of the detainees were settled in full, they have risen the question on how the company handled the deposit funds made by M.D Ronnie.

The statement stressed that there is no indication of any investigations carried out on the accusations that Island Experts is involved in human trafficking. Despite HRCM having informed that the matter is under investigations as a “serious and sensitive case”, the deportation of the detainees including M.D Ronnie is a breach of international conventions, including the rights protected under the Maldivian constitution and law.

The legal team has since shared the concern with the People’s Majlis on July 29 and has requested the parliament and relevant authorities to carry out a thorough investigation to clarify whether any authorities have neglected their obligations or if any authority has violated their responsibilities.

They have requested to “kindly make them accountable for their actions.”

RaajjeMV's efforts to get a comment from the Immigration Authority on the veracity of this claim failed as at the time of publishing this article.