The execution of two Bangladeshi citizens in Saudi Arabia's Makkah province on October 14, 2026, raises a challenging question: What is the purpose of consular protection if the government is unable to determine which of its nationals are at risk of execution until it is too late?
According to Saudi officials, two people, Nazerul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhter, have been sentenced to death after a court found them guilty of alleged immoral behavior in a mosque.
The Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah stated that it had not received advance notice of the executions. Further study found a disturbing feature. Saudi officials furnished them with a roster of nearly 2,500 offenders, including their names, but not details of their capital sentences.
Under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, foreign nationals in detention have the right to communicate with and have access to consular officials.
If a detained citizen requests consular aid, the consular post shall be notified without delay, and the detainee shall be informed of this right.
Article 37(a) concerns the notification of the death of a foreign national, if the receiving authorities have the essential information. The Convention does not oblige a state to give prior notification of every execution to be carried out. Whether it violated them depends on confidential variables such as the conditions of imprisonment and whether consular notice was requested.
Bangladesh should obtain the required information rather than bring a bogus legal accusation. A bilateral system needs to be created for prompt notification of capital charges, death sentences, appeals, and scheduled executions.
The amount of Bangladesh's reliance on Saudi Arabia makes this a serious matter. In 2025, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training stated that 752,715 Bangladeshis sought employment in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia remained the greatest provider of remittances to Bangladesh in fiscal year 2025-26, totalling more than $5.85 billion.
The enumeration named the two executed individuals but made no mention of the imposition of death sentences. The reported offenses prevented consular officials from reliably associating the entries with the executions.
It cannot guide a task that requires immediate engagement unless it specifies the allegation, the phase of processes, the verdict, the status of appeals, and the next important date.
Other nations demonstrate the operation of various components inside such a system. The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of the Philippines creates a Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers' Affairs and a Legal Assistance Fund to reimburse qualified expenses such as foreign attorney fees and litigation costs.
Its relevance stems from the distribution of accountability and funding for legal action, rather than relying on improvised remedies. India's MADAD consular grievance portal offers a unique feature: Citizens can lodge grievances and track their progress within the government's consular framework.
Although grievance monitoring alone cannot prevent an execution, a similar platform could enable Bangladesh to record detention conditions, assign tasks, verify timetables, and escalate lingering issues.
Indonesia provides a warning example. Siti Zainab, an Indonesian domestic servant, was executed in Saudi Arabia in 2015, despite efforts by Indonesian MPs to secure a pardon and Jakarta's concerns about the lack of prior information to her family and diplomatic authorities.
The example demonstrates that diplomatic entreaties alone cannot ensure security. Robust precautions must be taken before a problem reaches a critical stage.
For someone accused of a capital crime, time is more than just a bureaucratic issue. Timely consular intervention can help educate families, find a suitable local attorney, provide translation assistance, obtain judicial rulings, and track appeal deadlines.
It may also provide authorities with an opportunity to consider clemency or alternative sentencing, depending on the area's legislation. These opportunities are lost as the execution begins.
Bangladesh cannot assume that every conviction is invalid and cannot ask Saudi courts to abandon jurisdiction. However, it may be argued that consular protection is important and that families are not left to seek necessary answers following an irreversible ruling. Advising migrants to follow the laws of their host country is risky because it does not provide them with legal protection if arrested.
Bangladesh should demand the full judicial records of both events and provide families with verifiable information. There needs to be a proper internal evaluation of the measures to receive, evaluate, and implement the list of inmates.
Dhaka and Riyadh should set up a formal bilateral consular mechanism, whereby they would be required to inform on important criminal allegations, death sentences, appellate rulings, and scheduled executions in a timely manner.
In high-risk scenarios, Bangladesh should have an accurate, up-to-date list of the incarcerated citizens and identified authorities. Each record shall contain the name of the inmate, the charge, the judicial status, the sentence, the legal counsel, and the pertinent dates.
Create a dedicated fund for legal aid to support local lawyers, provide translation services, and hasten legal reviews. The number of detainees supported, the number of cases raised, and the outcomes should be regularly reported to the public, while respecting the confidentiality of personal information.
Bangladesh can learn from the Philippines’ financial framework and India’s case-monitoring system, but neither can be rolled out immediately. The Indonesian situation indicates that diplomatic protests after an execution don’t work. A strong system requires verifiable data from host countries, appropriate staffing and finance at foreign missions, and clear accountability in Dhaka.
In my 2020 Op-Ed for the Dhaka Tribune, "Is anyone listening?" I highlighted my concern for the safety of Bangladeshi citizens whose livelihoods rely on migration. That is the inquiry.
A prisoner roster is useless unless it motivates people to act. Bangladesh must ensure that when an individual receives a death sentence abroad, the diplomatic mission is promptly alerted so that it can investigate, acquire legal aid, and pursue all available options.
Md Fahmedul Islam Dewan is a Lecturer, Department of Law, World University of Bangladesh.
