[Updated] Kabir and Bidu released--but only temporarily
Kabir Uddin and Mohammed Bidduth, two Bangladeshi workers at the forefront of the migrant workers movement in South Korea, were temporarily released on December 1st by immigration officials at the Hwaseong Immigration Processing Center.
Source : Base21
by Terry Park and Chrisian/Base21 Media Activists
parkterry@hotmail.com
dvs-b@t-online.de
Kabir Uddin and Mohammed Bidduth, two Bangladeshi workers at the forefront of the migrant workers movement in South Korea, were temporarily released on December 1st by immigration officials at the Hwaseong Immigration Processing Center. The Equality Trade Union-Migrants Branch and their supporters have staged numerous rallies in front of the Seoul Immigration office and other government buildings since their incarceration on September 2nd.
While detained, Kabir and Mohammed were joined by several other imprisoned migrant workers in a hunger strike against human rights abuses that eventually forced immigration authorities to temporarily release the two. However, the mood is still somewhat sober over the temporary status of Kabir's and Mohammed's release. Also, the Chosun Ilbo reported on November 13th that there is an increasing fear among migrant workers of another crackdown like the one that lead to the arrest of Kabir, Mohammed and many others "legal" and "illegal" foreign workers.
The Bangladesh Patriot Society organized a welcome celebration in Masok, an industrial area home to many of South Korea's burgeoning migrant worker population. Many Bangladeshi, ETU members, supporters, and of course Kabir and Mohammed participated in the event. The party later moved to a union office in nearby Seoul, showing the strong solidarity between Korean union members and migrant workers.
The temporary release comes after more then 80 human rights organizations and civic groups sent a petition to President Kim Dae-jung demanding the release of the two ETU activists.
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