Saudi national handed death penalty for murder of Bangladeshi woman
A criminal court in Saudi Arabia has handed the death sentence to a Saudi woman for killing her Bangladeshi maid in a ruling rights groups say was a rare example of an employer being found guilty of abusing a migrant worker in the Middle East country.
Ayesha al-Jizani was sentenced on Sunday to death by the court for killing Abiron Begum in March 2019_ some two years after Begum went to the Gulf state in search of better paid work_ a Bangladeshi government official said.
Begum s relatives urged the Bangladeshi government to take action against the brokers who tricked Begum_ 40_ into taking the job in Saudi Arabia four years ago.
(She) wanted to go abroad to earn more money so that she could pay for her aged parents_ Ayub Ali_ Begum s brother-in-law_ told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
They started torturing her two weeks after she left. She would call us and cry & we begged the brokers here to bring her back_ but no one listened to us.
Jizani s husband was jailed for three years for failing to help Begum access medical treatment and making her work outside the family home illegally_ confirmed Ahmed Munirus Saleheen_ a senior official at Bangladesh s expatriate ministry.
Jizani s son was sent to a juvenile facility for seven months_ Saleheen added.
Campaigners said the Saudi court s verdict against an employer was unusual.
I have been working in the migration field for several years and I have never heard of such a verdict_ said Shakirul Islam_ the head of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program_ which deals with migrant rights in Bangladesh.
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