Over fifty Bangladeshis have been detained by the United Arab Emirates for their demonstrations against their home country's leadership; three of them have been given life sentences.

The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal sentenced 53 people to 10 years in prison and three life sentences for their roles in protests on Monday. According to Emirati news outlet WAM, those found guilty would be transferred back to Bangladesh after serving their sentences.

For demonstrating against their home country's leadership, more than fifty Bangladeshis have been detained in the United Arab Emirates, with three of them receiving life sentences. The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal sentenced the three individuals to life on Monday and sentenced 53 more people to 10 years in jail for their involvement in.

The demonstrators were protesting against a Bangladesh High Court verdict that was set to reintroduce a quota system in the country, reserving 30 percent of government jobs for the descendants of veterans who fought in the country's independence war in 1971. 

Mass protests against the quota system, led by students who believed the move to be anti-meritocratic, were violently cracked down on by authorities in Bangladesh last week, with at least 138 protesters killed. More than half of those deaths occurred in the capital Dhaka.