x.com/ag_Journalist/status/2112274111766675644
3 corrections found
their bodies sent back to the country in boxes.
This was false when posted. Bangladeshi officials and airport staff said the bodies had not yet arrived, and viral coffin footage was from an unrelated case.
Full reasoning
The claim that the bodies had already been sent back to Bangladesh was contradicted by reporting at the time.
Prothom Alo's fact-check found that videos and images being shared as the return of the two bodies were unrelated. It quoted Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport welfare-desk official Shariful Islam as saying: the bodies had not arrived yet. The same fact-check identified one viral coffin image as an older, unrelated case involving another Bangladeshi expatriate.
Separately, Bangladeshi reporting on October 19 said repatriation of the bodies was being delayed, which also contradicts the claim that they had already been sent back in boxes.
2 sources
- সৌদিতে দুই বাংলাদেশির মৃত্যুদণ্ড নিয়ে ছড়ানো হচ্ছে পুরোনো ও ভিন্ন ঘটনার ভিডিও | প্রথম আলো
তবে যাচাই করে দেখা গেছে, মৃত্যুদণ্ড কার্যকর হওয়া দুই বাংলাদেশির মরদেহ দেশে ফেরার দাবিটি সঠিক নয়... হজরত শাহজালাল আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দরের ... শরিফুল ইসলামের সঙ্গে ... যোগাযোগ করা হয়। তিনি প্রথম আলোকে বলেন, 'লাশ এখনো আসেনি।'
- ‘Middle East conflict delays return of bodies of 2 executed Bangladeshis’
The repatriation of the bodies of two Bangladeshis... is being delayed due to the suspension of air connectivity between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia..., Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has said.
Without trial.
This is incorrect: Saudi Arabia and Bangladeshi officials both say the two executions followed court proceedings, including a lower-court ruling and appellate review.
Full reasoning
Available reporting does not support the claim that the two Bangladeshis were executed "without trial."
Saudi state media, relaying the Interior Ministry statement, said the pair were apprehended, investigated, formally charged, referred to a court, convicted, and sentenced to death. It further said the verdict was upheld and a royal order was issued before the executions.
Bangladeshi diplomatic reporting also contradicts the claim. Prothom Alo reported that, in a meeting with Bangladesh's consul general, Saudi officials said the two defendants were first sentenced by a lower court after judicial process and that a 13-judge appellate panel later upheld the death sentences.
That does not prove the process was fair or transparent — Bangladesh is still seeking the verdicts and fuller case details — but it does directly contradict the claim that there was no trial at all.
2 sources
- Two Bangladeshi nationals executed in Makkah for immoral act - Ajel English
Security authorities apprehended the pair, and following investigations, they were formally charged. The case was referred to the competent court, which found them guilty and sentenced them to death... The verdict was upheld by the relevant authorities, and a royal order was issued to carry out the sentence.
- Dhaka seeks to know whether the 2 Bangladeshis had a chance to defend themselves
The Saudi side said that, following their arrests in August 2023, the two defendants had initially been sentenced by a lower court after due judicial process. An appellate court panel comprising 13 judges later upheld their death sentences.
A newly married couple heads to Saudi Arabia for their honeymoon.
Reporting based on Bangladeshi diplomatic records and family statements contradicts this. The two were already in Saudi Arabia by late 2022, and there is no confirmed evidence they were a newly married couple on honeymoon.
Full reasoning
This description does not match the reporting that emerged from Bangladeshi diplomatic records.
Prothom Alo reported that Bangladeshi officials reviewed records showing that both had arrived in Saudi Arabia in late 2022 and joined Al Majal Company as cleaners. That is inconsistent with the post's story that a newly married couple had just headed to Saudi Arabia for a honeymoon.
Additional reporting from The Business Standard says Nazrul's family rejected the viral "newlyweds" narrative. His mother said he was unmarried, and the family said he had gone to Saudi Arabia on 10 November 2022 for work, not for a honeymoon trip.
Because of that record, the "newly married couple ... honeymoon" framing is not supported by the known facts and is contradicted by the available reporting.
2 sources
- Dhaka seeks to know whether the 2 Bangladeshis had a chance to defend themselves
After arriving in Saudi Arabia in late 2022, both joined Al Majal Company as cleaners.
- 'Not newly-weds', family denies Saudi-executed Nazrul was newly married to Sweety | The Business Standard
The family... has rejected social media claims that the two were newlyweds who travelled to the kingdom for an Umrah pilgrimage... He went to Saudi Arabia on 10 November 2022... in an effort to improve his family's financial condition.