Although most of the labourers jailed after protests in Dubai last weekend have been released, some remain in custody:

Beyond the gleaming towers, busy highways and luxury villas of Dubai, hundreds of thousands of South Asian labourers who helped build them live in cramped and dusty industrial zones.

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The Gulf News daily reported on Thursday that of some 5,000 workers were rounded up during the protests on Saturday, some 800 were still in custody. It quoted the police chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, as saying that workers involved in vandalising police vehicles and public property would be prosecuted.

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Dubai, one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, has long faced criticism from international human rights groups who say it turns a blind eye to the non-payment of wages, lack of medical care and sub-standard housing for workers.

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The government has also closed down some workers' camps that do not meet minimal health and safety standards in an effort to crack down on companies that abuse migrant workers.

But in March, New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said a UAE draft labour law fell far short of international standards for the rights of workers.

Even the US is unhappy about the state of workers' rights:

The United States, which is negotiating a free trade pact with the UAE, is pressing the Gulf Arab state to apply international standards to its workforce.

But while the UAE has vowed to punish firms that do not pay employees on time or force them to live or work in poor conditions, labour unions remain illegal and protests can often end in deportation.