[News]Saudi woman sentenced to death for murdering her Bangladeshi maid

[SougarLord]

 

A Saudi woman has been convicted of the murder of her Bangladeshi maid by a court in Saudi Arabia, in a sentence that human rights groups have described as a rare example of punishment for abusive behavior against a domestic worker.

 

Ayesha Al Jizani was sentenced to death by the court on Sunday for the murder of Abiron Begum in March 2019, just two years after Begum traveled to Saudi Arabia to seek a higher-paying job, according to a Bangladeshi official.

 

Begum's relatives called on the Bangladeshi government to crack down on intermediaries who "tricked" 40-year-old Begum into taking a job in Saudi Arabia four years earlier.

 

"He wanted to travel abroad to earn more money, so that he could give to his elderly parents," Ayub Ali, Begum's brother-in-law, explained to Reuters. “They began to torture her two weeks after she left it. She called us and cried. We asked to be brought back, but they didn't listen to us.

Jizani's husband was imprisoned for three years for not being able to help Begum access medical treatment and make him work outside the home illegally, ”confirmed Ahmed Saleheen, an official.

 

Bangladesh is one of the main exporting countries for labor and relies heavily on remittances sent by relatives from abroad. Before the pandemic, some 700,000 Bangladeshis used to go abroad in search of work, with Saudi Arabia as the main destination country.