What Bangladesh Must Do About the Travesty of Justice in Saudi
Abuse of Bangladeshi workers across the Middle East is widely reported, yet we have rarely seen real backbone from the ministry or our Gulf missions.
Two Bangladeshi citizens, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, were executed in Saudi Arabia on 14 October. Their families, their government and their "Bangladesh" consulate appear to have learned of it only after it was done.
Whatever one thinks of the alleged act, this should outrage anyone who believes in due process. Two lives were taken through a process no one outside the Saudi system was allowed to see.
Seven things about this execution demand scrutiny and accountability:
ONE.
Saudi Arabia failed to notify the Bangladesh consulate twice. The first failure came at arrest. Under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a detained foreign national must be told without delay of the right to consular notification and access, and there is no sign either of them ever was. The second failure came after the executions. Article 37 requires the host state to inform the consulate of a foreign national’s death without delay, and the Bangladesh Consulate in Jeddah says it was not told.
TWO.
It was a death sentence for a non-lethal offence. The sentence was ta’zir, a discretionary punishment. No religious text required death here; a judge chose it. That falls far short of the “most serious crimes” threshold set by the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia has ratified, and by the UN death-penalty safeguards.
THREE.
We don’t know what legal representation they had. Did each have a lawyer? A Bangla interpreter? Did the conviction rest on a confession, and how was that confession obtained?
FOUR.
We don’t know if the woman’s consent was examined. The Saudi statement does not even confirm whether the two were married.
FIVE.
The families were left in the dark. Were they told beforehand? Where are the bodies, and will they be returned?
SIX.
Our consulate was absent for months. The Saudi statement says “the judgment became final after being upheld by the relevant judicial authority, and a Royal Order was issued to enforce the sentence.” That describes an arrest, detention, investigation, trial, appeal, and royal confirmation, which takes months, not days. What was the Bangladesh consulate doing through all of it?
SEVEN.
The Foreign Ministry’s response is a disgrace. It cannot excuse itself by saying it was not contacted. Article 31 of our Constitution guarantees every citizen the protection of the law “wherever he (or she) may be.” The state has a positive duty to protect its people abroad, above all the wage earners whose remittances keep our economy afloat. Treating them this way is inexcusable.
This is part of a bigger pattern. Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry is usually quick to issue scathing statements, for example over Sheikh Hasina’s press event in Delhi or the heckling of Professor Yunus.
Here it has been strikingly timid. Abuse of Bangladeshi workers across the Middle East is widely reported, yet we have rarely seen real backbone from the ministry or our Gulf missions.
Dhaka should do four things now:
1. Demand the full case file and judgments from Riyadh, and publish them.
2. Secure the return of the remains to the families.
3. Audit every Bangladeshi currently detained or on death row in the Gulf.
4. Negotiate and put in place a robust arrangement for automatic consular protection in all such circumstances.
Two Bangladeshi citizens are dead. The least they deserve is the truth about how and why.
Dr. Rayhan Rashid is a prominent lawyer, transitional justice advocate, and one of the founding trustees of the International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF).
