Victim demands compensation

He left for Iraq with dreams of bringing solvency and happiness for his five-member family, of ensuring a good education for his son. Abdur Razzak even reached the oil-rich country on May 28 last year on a work visa.

But with dreams shattered, the Laxmipur's Raipur upazila resident was forced to return yesterday, along with a co-worker, Shohag, empty-handed and in frail health.

"They ruined my life. They killed my dream. I do not know how I will look after my family," Razzak told The Daily Star in the capital's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

He submitted a written complaint at NHRC against Career Overseas Ltd demanding compensation.

The Bangladeshi recruiting agency in May 2014 had sent 180 migrants including Razzak and Shohag, promising them jobs at Abu Torab Housing Project in Najaf, a desert area.

But the Iraqi company failed to run a project due to clashes among different groups in the Middle Eastern country. With no work, the Bangladeshi migrants were forced to stay in the company's labour camp for over seven months.

A section of the workers including Razzak wanted to return home. But the company and agency denied and their people, as per some migrants including Razzak, beat them whenever they asked to be sent back.

Rights Jessore, a human rights organisation contacted by the migrants, brought the issue before the media and demanded that the agencies involved bring them back.

But Career Overseas Ltd and the Bangladesh embassy in Baghdad declined, arranging jobs for all the migrants at Al Ayadi Group, another Iraqi construction company in Baghdad, in November last year.

Razzak along with some other workers declined joining the new company. But faced with the options of either to work or return at his own expense, he finally joined in January.

"After four days...some Iraqis confined me to a room and beat me mercilessly as I did not want to stay there," he alleged. He said this recurred whenever he asked to be sent home.

His health deteriorated in the past few months and he became seriously ill due to the beatings, Razzak said. "They beat me inhumanely and declined to provide food properly. But I was adamant on returning home," he said.

At one point, the company allowed him to return. But Razzak says he got only one month's pay though he worked for three months.

ABM Badrul Amin, managing director of 

Career Overseas Ltd, however, denied the allegations. He said Razzak had to return home as he was sick for several months and that he got three months' pay.

"We had arranged jobs for all the workers with a handsome salary ranging from $400 to $500 per month. The company itself arranged his air ticket and assisted him financially to return home," he told The Daily Star.

The embassy could not be reached for comment. Kazi Reazul Hoque, full member of NHRC, told The Daily Star that they would conduct investigations.