Bangladesh summons Saudi envoy over executions of two Bangladeshis

DHAKA — Bangladesh's foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador in Dhaka to seek details of the recent execution of two Bangladeshi nationals in Mecca, BBC Bangla reported on 18 October 2026.

According to BBC Bangla, the ministry held a meeting with the envoy to ask for a full account of the case. The ministry's own statement on the meeting was not included in the source material.

What Saudi Arabia has said

The Saudi interior ministry announced the executions on Wednesday 14 October in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, according to BBC Persian and BBC Urdu. The ministry said security forces arrested the two men over "immoral and indecent" conduct in a mosque in Mecca. It said the case went to court after an investigation, and the court found the charges proved and sentenced both men to death.

Saudi officials have not published further details of the allegations, BBC Persian reported.

Bangladesh's response

The Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah wrote to the Saudi foreign ministry on Thursday 15 October asking for details, according to BBC Persian and BBC Urdu. BBC Persian reported that Bangladesh condemned the executions and asked for an explanation.

Sources at the Bangladesh consulate general in Jeddah told the BBC that Saudi authorities had given no information about the arrest, the legal proceedings or the executions. BBC Urdu, citing the same sources, reported that Saudi authorities had not confirmed through the embassy that the two men were Bangladeshi.

As a result, it is not known where the bodies are held or when and how they will be handed over, BBC Persian reported. It said the embassy cannot contact the men's families or give them information because Bangladesh was not formally notified.

Legal questions

Experts quoted by the BBC said Saudi Arabia breached the Vienna Convention by carrying out the sentences without informing the families or the embassy. Sharif ul Hasan, head of the migration programme at BRAC, said Saudi Arabia violated the convention during the process, according to BBC Urdu.

Article 36 of the convention says that if a foreign national is arrested or detained, their country's embassy must be told without delay if the person asks for this. BBC Urdu and BBC Persian reported that Saudi Arabia signed the convention in 1981.

Rehan Rashid, an international law specialist based in Britain, told BBC Bangla that available information suggested the men were sentenced after appeals had ended. "The embassy should have known," he said in the BBC Urdu account, adding that the process did not take place in a single day. He said the men should also have been asked repeatedly whether they wanted consular help, and that Saudi authorities would not be responsible if they declined it.

Former ambassador Humayun Kabir offered a different view. He told BBC Bangla that, because the trial was part of Saudi Arabia's domestic legal process, Saudi authorities had no legal duty to inform Bangladesh. He said they might still respond if Bangladesh asked. He added that it was not known what had happened in this case.

Background

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry also announced the execution of five Saudi nationals for "terrorism-related" offences, BBC Persian reported. It was not clear when those offences took place.

Rights groups say Saudi Arabia carried out more than 300 executions in 2025, according to BBC Persian. The death penalty is applied there for a wide range of offences, including drug-related and some security-related charges. Human rights organisations have criticised the country over fair-trial standards.