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Bangladesh learned of the executions of Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar on October 14, the same day Saudi authorities carried them out in the Mecca region, according to State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid Islam. The Saudi interior ministry announced that the pair had been convicted under ta’zir for an immoral act that violated a mosque’s sanctity, a statement distributed by the Saudi Press Agency. Neither the Bangladesh foreign ministry nor its mission in Saudi Arabia received any prior official information about the death sentences, Shama Obaid Islam told reporters in Dhaka. The ministry subsequently sent a diplomatic note to Saudi counterparts seeking comprehensive details on the case, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.
Foreign Secretary Md Nazrul Islam held a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah Zafer bin Abiyah on October 18 at a state guesthouse in Dhaka to request a full explanation of the trials, consular access and legal proceedings, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Shama Obaid Islam described the executions as a major lesson for Bangladeshis living overseas and urged them to abide by the laws of their host countries while the government awaited Riyadh’s response before considering further measures such as repatriation of the bodies. The consulate general in Jeddah had previously requested a prisoner list from Saudi officials, but that document did not flag the pair as facing capital punishment, the Daily Star newspaper reported.
Around 3.5 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia, the largest expatriate community in the kingdom, according to figures compiled by Reuters from Bangladesh government sources. The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training recorded more than 750,000 Bangladeshi workers deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2025, the highest annual figure to a single destination in the country’s history. These migrants remitted more than 2.7 billion dollars last year, data from Bangladesh’s expatriates’ welfare ministry shows, underscoring the economic importance of the labour corridor between the two nations.
Saudi Arabia executed 356 people in 2025, with approximately 57 percent of them foreign nationals, a United Nations rights office assessment found. Reprieve, a human rights organisation that monitors capital punishment, told Reuters the total marked a record for the second consecutive year and included many cases involving non-lethal crimes. The United Nations had previously expressed distress over the execution of eight Bangladeshi migrants in Saudi Arabia in 2011 for a murder conviction, according to Reuters archives from that period.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that both sides expressed satisfaction with overall bilateral cooperation during the meeting with the Saudi ambassador despite the current request for information. Officials continue to seek clarification on whether consular notification procedures under international standards were followed in the lead-up to the executions, a senior foreign ministry representative told local media. The government has not yet received a formal reply from Saudi authorities on the circumstances of the convictions, according to statements issued by the ministry.
