Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) granted amnesty to all 57 Bangladeshis who were earlier convicted by the UAE Federal Court.

"All 57 Bangladeshis who were earlier convicted by the UAE Federal Court have been granted pardon by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, today," he said in a meeting with the editors of newspapers at the State Guest House Jamuna here.

Briefing reporters at the Foreign Service Academy after the meeting, Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told the newsmen that the pardoned people will be deported to Bangladesh soon.

Alam said Zayed Al Nahyan phoned Prof Yunus on August 28 and during their telephonic conversation, the issue of amnesty to 57 Bangladeshis was focused.

He said the chief adviser requested the UAE president to pardon the convicted Bangladeshis.

The Bangladeshi diaspora staged demonstration abroad expressing their solidarity to the student-people movement against the autocratic Sheikh Hasina government. The Bangladeshi expatriates were detained in the UAE while staging protest there.

Alam said the UAE authorities pardoned the convicted Bangladeshis in honour to Prof Yunus, a towering personality and the 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate.