Bangladesh to appeal against Saudi court verdict
Bangladesh mission in Jeddah is preparing to file an appeal against a Saudi court verdict that sentenced Bangladeshi migrant worker Abul Bashar to 20 years in jail for carrying illegal amphetamine pills into the Gulf country.
Bashar's family in Bangladesh claimed that his jail sentence was unjust, adding that the migrant worker was forced by an employee at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka to carry a package containing the illegal drugs while leaving Bangladesh in March this year.
Bashar (40) from Mehendiganj of Barishal, was sentenced on September 26 in a case filed by Saudi authorities, according to a letter of the Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said the government will share evidence, if any, with the Saudi government -- in favour of Bashar, reports UNB. "Saudi judges are independent and they never get influenced. They work based on evidence. If there's any new evidence, those could be put up," said the minister at his office.
Bashar was charged for carrying 4,980 pieces of contraband amphetamine pills after disembarking at the airport in Jeddah, said the consulate general's letter which was sent to the expatriates' welfare ministry on Tuesday.
According to the letter, the consulate general has to file an appeal against the Saudi court verdict within October 24.
Contacted, Aminul Islam, labour welfare counsellor at Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah, yesterday said they are taking necessary steps to file the appeal.
"We will take all kinds of preparations we deem necessary," he told this newspaper over phone.
Bashar's wife Rabeya Begum alleged that her husband was forced by a HSIA employee to carry the amphetamine tablets from the airport.
Rabeya said Bashar's flight was on March 12 this year. When he was waiting for his flight, the staffer asked him to carry a package to Saudi Arabia.
Bashar refused to take the package initially, but he threatened him saying that if he refused, he would not be allowed in the flight, Rabeya alleged.
As Bashar's flight time was nearing, he agreed to carry the package seeing no other option, she added.
Rabeya said she came to know about the incident three weeks later when Bashar called her from jail and narrated the whole incident.
She later communicated with the armed police battalion officials at HSIA and sought their help.
Later, the whole incident was found recorded on close circuit camera. The airport staffer also admitted to the armed police that he gave the package containing amphetamine pills to Bashar, she further said.
"My husband has been punished despite being innocent," she said, demanding punishment of the real culprit and acquittal of her husband.
She said that staffer was a complete stranger to her husband or any of their family members before the fateful incident.
With their four-year-old daughter, she is now facing both financial and emotional hardship since Bashar is the only bread earner of the family.
On Tuesday, Rabeya staged a protest in front of the expatriates' welfare ministry, demanding justice for her husband.
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