Saudi employer sentenced to death for killing Bangladeshi female migrant

Abiron Begum
Collected

A Riyadh court on Sunday sentenced a Saudi housewife to death and her husband to three years and two months in jail in connection with the killing of a Bangladeshi female migrant, Abiron Begum, in Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Ayesha Al Zizani, the main accused in the murder case, has been awarded the death penalty for intentional and specific murder while her husband Bassem Salem sentenced three-year and two months in jail with the compensation of more than Tk 1 million (50,000 Saudi riyal) for destroying the evidences of the killing.

Along with them, the court ordered to send their son, Walid Bassem Salem, to the youth development center for seven months.

Counsellor (Labour) of Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia Md. Asaduzzaman confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo over the phone.

The court said convicts will have to file appeal within a month after the verdict was announced.

The government sent Abiron Begum, aged above 40, hailing from Khulna, to Saudi Arabia in 2017 as a 'domestic worker'. Two years and three months after the departure, the dead body of Abiron landed in the country in 2019.

The expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment said the labour wing at the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh has played an effective role to accelerate the trial of this murder.