Rights group demands inquiry after 8 Bangladeshis executed in Saudi Arabia

2011-10-12 07:36:57 GMT+7 (ICT)

DHAKA (BNO NEWS) -- A human rights organization on Tuesday filed a petition at the High Court Division bench of Bangladesh in which it urged the court to investigate the government's role in the execution of eight Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia on Friday, local media reported.

Eight Bangladeshis were beheaded in public in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Friday after they confessed to killing an Egyptian security guard while robbing a warehouse in April 2007. The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Bangladesh on Monday explained that the execution was carried out in line with the law of Saudi Arabia based on their confession to the crime, Bangladesh News 24 reported.

The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh has pleaded with the court to direct the government to probe the role of the country's foreign officials in protecting the lives of the eight citizens. "We have seen media reports claiming that the convicted eight did not get any effective assistance from the embassy there, which is why we filed the petition," the organization's lawyer said, according to the report.

The petition urged the court to form two separate committees to probe the role of the Bangladeshi embassy in Saudi Arabia. It also requested the court to ask the Bangladeshi ambassador to Saudi Arabia to submit a report within two weeks detailing the steps they took to save the executed Bangladeshis.

Both the Saudi government and the Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia have defended the execution, saying only the victim's family can pardon such crime and the family declined to oblige.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday said it was deeply distressed by the recent executions and called on Saudi Arabia to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. "We call on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all other States that still maintain the death penalty to respect international standards that provide safeguards to ensure protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty," said OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville.

According to the OHCHR, at least 58 people have reportedly been executed in Saudi Arabia this year alone, including 20 migrant workers. This number is significantly higher than the 27 executions reported last year, according to Amnesty International, although it said the actual number was believed to be much higher.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-12

No wonder Indonesia have stopped granting visas for it's citizens to work in the archaic repressive Saudi Kingdom. It's also harder for them to hide behind the stock Islamophobia defense in response to condemnation when those killed are citizens of other Islamic Countries too.