Is Sweetie, who waited 4 years for freedom, the woman executed in Saudi Arabia?

Sweetie Akter, from Tangail, went to Saudi Arabia nearly four years ago. For the first five months, she sent money home. Then, one day, she called her family and told them she had been taken to prison. She remained in regular contact with them afterwards. Even just 15 days before reports emerged that her death sentence had been carried out, Sweetie called home from prison. Her family says she did not mention anything about a death sentence during that conversation.

Sweetie’s father, Fazal Mia, lives in Nagar Chaowali village in the Mahera union of Mirzapur upazila, Tangail. When visitors went to the family home on Tuesday, neighbours had gathered there. But the family has yet to receive any official information from the government confirming whether Sweetie’s death sentence was carried out in Saudi Arabia.

Fazal Mia said he had borrowed money to send his youngest daughter, one of his five daughters, to Saudi Arabia four years ago. He took out a loan of Tk 150,000 to send her through a broker. Sweetie sent money home for the first five months.

One day, Fazal said, Sweetie called and told him that she had been framed and sent to prison following an argument with other women working there. The family then lost contact with her for a year. She eventually called again from prison, and after that, she spoke to her family almost every month.

Sweetie’s father said she had never told them that she had stood trial in court. In her final conversations, she said she might be released from prison in two months. She called home most recently just 15 days ago, but did not mention a death sentence then either.

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 has informed them about the matter.

“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 for confirmed information about her daughter, 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 one of the two.