Court takes pity on ‘mistreated' Bangladeshi
By Malai FadleyRizal 

A 34-year-old Bangladeshi who ran away from his 'mistreating' employer was sent to prison for five months after he pleaded guilty to overstaying for two years in Brunei. Mostafa Kamal Mohammad Afaz told the court that he had left his job and ran away because his employer had mistreated him.

He said in his mitigations that his family was poor.

Senior Magistrate Radin Safiee said, having overstayed for two years is a fact that cannot be ignored, however, he took into consideration Mostafa's family status, his clean record, having saved the court's time by pleading guilty and that he was remorseful for what he had done.

"It would've been eight months," said the Magistrate upon giving Mostafa a lighter sentence.

Immigrations prosecutor Moharefandi Hj Md Tahir told the court that Mostafa was arrested during the "Benteras 32", a joint operation conducted by Immigration enforcement personnel recently.

"He was suspected to be an illegal immigrant, which was confirmed when officers found that his employment pass had expired in 2001," Moharefandi told the court.

According to the statement of facts, Mostafa was a labourer for Saimajaya Trading Company.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin