A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a housewife to death over the murder of her Bangladeshi house help Abiron Begum Ansar.
The verdict by a Riyadh Criminal Court was delivered on Sunday, the Bangladesh Embassy said in a statement on Monday.
Death row convict Ayesha Al Jizani’s husband Basem Salem has been given a 38-month prison term for destroying evidence, for failing to provide Abiron with medical treatment. He has also been slapped with a fine of 50,000 Riyals, it said.
The couple’s teenage son has received a seven-month term in juvenile rehabilitation for not cooperating with Abiron Begum in several instances, according to the statement by the mission in Riyadh.
Bangladesh Embassy’s First Secretary (Labour) Md Shafiqul Islam and legal aid Sohel Ahmed were present at the court during the verdict, it added.
On March 24, 2019, Abiron Begum Ansar, who went to Saudi Arabia in 2017, was tortured and killed allegedly at her employer's house. Her body was kept in a mortuary there for seven months before being sent to Bangladesh.
Her family said Ansar's body was "unrecognizable" when it was repatriated back to Bangladesh seven months later.