Sweetie Akter, a woman from Tangail, went to Saudi Arabia nearly four years ago to work. For the first five months, she sent money home. Then one day, she called her family and said she had been taken to prison. She remained in contact with them afterwards, and even 15 days before reports emerged that her death sentence had been carried out, she called home from prison.
During that final conversation, her family said, she did not mention being sentenced to death or facing execution.
Sweetie’s father, Fazal Mia, lives in Nagar Chaowali village in Mahera union of Mirzapur upazila in Tangail. When visitors went to the family home on Tuesday, neighbours had gathered there. However, the family had yet to receive any official confirmation from the government about whether Sweetie’s death sentence had been carried out in Saudi Arabia.
Fazal Mia said he had borrowed Tk 150,000 to send his youngest daughter, one of his five daughters, to Saudi Arabia through a broker nearly four years ago. Sweetie sent money home for the first five months.
He said Sweetie later called and told him she had been framed and sent to prison following an argument with other women working there. The family then lost contact with her for about a year. She eventually called again from prison and, after that, spoke to them almost every month.
According to her father, Sweetie never told the family that she had stood trial in court. In their final conversations, she said she might be released from prison within two months. She last called home about 15 days ago but did not mention a death sentence.
Fazal Mia said the family learned two days ago that the Saudi government had carried out his daughter’s death sentence. However, no one from the Bangladesh government had informed them officially.
“We do not know what has happened to my daughter. We do not know whether she is alive or dead. We have only heard rumours from people,” he said.
Sweetie’s mother, Johura, said her daughter was married and had a four-year-old daughter. After Sweetie went to Saudi Arabia, her elder sister Beauty took the child into her care and has been raising her.
Calling on the government to provide confirmed information, Johura said: “I want to know from the government what has happened to my daughter. I want my daughter back. Whether she is alive or dead, I want my daughter.”
Mahera Union Parishad Chairman Bibhas Sarker Nupur and Mirzapur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdullah Al Mamun said they had received no information about Sweetie from any level of the government.
Reports have recently emerged that two Bangladeshis were executed in Saudi Arabia, but Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been unable to confirm their identities. It therefore remains officially unconfirmed whether Sweetie Akter was among those executed.