Skip to main content

Bangladesh | Botswana Woman Executed for Drug Trafficking

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Lesedi Molapisi, a Botswana national convicted of drug trafficking, was executed in Bangladesh on Friday, 21 March 2025. The 31-year-old was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail after exhausting all legal avenues to appeal her death sentence.

Molapisi was arrested in January 2023 upon arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, where customs officials discovered 3.1 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage. Following a trial under Bangladesh’s Narcotics Control Act, she was sentenced to death in May 2024. Her execution was initially delayed due to political unrest in the country but was carried out last week.

Government officials in Bangladesh reaffirmed their country’s zero-tolerance stance on drug trafficking, citing the case as a warning to international smugglers. “Our laws are strict, and those who break them must face the consequences,” said an official from the Department of Narcotics Control.

Molapisi’s execution has sparked discussions in Botswana, with human rights groups and legal experts questioning the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences. Some activists have called for stronger diplomatic intervention in such cases, arguing that more should be done to protect citizens from severe foreign legal penalties.

Meanwhile, Botswana’s government has remained largely silent on the issue, though sources suggest that consular officials were involved in discussions before the execution.

Molapisi’s family has yet to release a statement, but reports indicate that efforts are underway to repatriate her remains to Botswana for burial.

Bangladesh enforces some of the world’s harshest drug laws, with capital punishment applied to offenders caught with significant quantities of illegal substances. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have long criticised the country’s judicial process, arguing that it often lacks transparency and denies fair trial rights to foreign nationals.

This case has reignited debates over the global fight against drug trafficking and whether capital punishment is an effective deterrent.

While some view Molapisi’s execution as a clear stance against drug crimes, others have condemned it as excessive and inhumane. The incident has also raised concerns about the treatment of foreign nationals in Bangladesh’s legal system, particularly those from African nations who face execution without adequate legal representation.

As the international community continues to debate the implications of Molapisi’s case, her death serves as a grim reminder of the severe penalties associated with drug-related offences in certain jurisdictions.

   UPDATE  

Zimbabwe: 'My Daughter Is Alive' - Lesedi Molapisi's Father Denies 'Fake News' of Execution in Bangladesh


25 March 2025
New Zimbabwe (London)
By Timeslive

Goitsemodimo Molapisi, the father of Lesedi Molapisi, is urging the public to cease spreading fake news about his daughter's fate after reports of her execution circulated online.

Lesedi, who was arrested at a Bangladesh airport in 2022 with about 3kg of heroin, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

Goitsemodimo is adamant that his daughter is still alive and believes that she will be released.

"I'm praying day and night. My daughter will be released. I'm hopeful," he said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.

In an emotional plea, Goitsemodimo expressed his distress about the harmful rumours.

"We were shocked to see fake news trending in the news media to the fact that my daughter has been executed, and this has been speculated by heartless people who are not sensitive enough to accommodate the parents, relatives and friends of Lesedi," he said.

"My daughter is still alive -- as you might be aware, she is in prison in Bangladesh. We have made an appeal, and she cannot be executed while that is being processed."

Lesedi's arrest came as a shock to her family, especially her father, who revealed that he had no knowledge of her trip to Bangladesh.

"Lesedi was not working. She was staying in Gaborone with her elder sister, and before her arrest she visited us in December. She left us around January 18 2022. We were really shocked."

Goitsemodimo said his daughter is alive and he has been in communication with her every week.

"I speak to Lesedi every Friday through her lawyer in Bangladesh. Even last Friday, we talked. She's still healthy, but the problem is that she's suffering from depression after being in prison for more than three years."

Goitsemodimo said he is in contact with Lesedi's lawyers and they have filed an appeal. They are awaiting a response from the judges.

The Botswana government has also been actively assisting in the case, with efforts to have Lesedi extradited to Botswana for prosecution.

Goitsemodimo expressed his gratitude for the support from Botswana's government, particularly from President Duma Boko.

"I'm very happy with the diplomatic efforts made by the president in assisting the family to secure a pardon for Lesedi. He is doing his best and I'm quite happy with the level of assistance."

He condemned those responsible for circulating the false reports of his daughter's execution. "This has affected us a lot because we are still working around the clock to assist my daughter, together with the government of Botswana, and these people are starting to speculate. It is really affecting us." [END]

Source: thezimbabwemail.com, Staff, March 22, 2025




"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde


Labels:
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Comments

  1. Gabi UhlApril 4, 2025 at 12:03 AM

    Looks like this is fake news. I learned today that Lesedi Molapisi is still alive. Here are sources: a) https://factcheckzw.org/viral-execution-claims-about-botswanas-lesedi-molapisi-are-false/ --- b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LkxHLCg8EY --- c) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=992167773006467

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Pro-DP comments will not be published.

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Indiana executes Benjamin Ritchie

Death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie was executed by lethal injection shortly after midnight Tuesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Department of Correction officials. The death sentence was carried out nearly 25 years after Ritchie shot and killed Beech Grove law enforcement officer William Toney. The condemned man had been on death row since his conviction in 2002. Details about the 45-year-old’s execution were sparse. No independent media representatives were permitted to witness the process.
Post a Comment
Read more

Iran | Singer Amirhossein Tataloo at Grave Risk of Execution for Blasphemy

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 17, 2025: Asghar Jahangir, Iran’s Judiciary spokesman announced today that the blasphemy death conviction of Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, has been upheld by the Supreme Court and sent for enforcement. The singer’s defence lawyer, Majid Naghshi, previously reported filing a judicial review request. Reiterating its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, Iran Human Rights considers the use of this inhumane punishment for charges such as blasphemy to be a flagrant violation of international human rights law and calls on civil society and the international community not remain silent about Amirhossein Maghsoudlou’s death penalty.
Post a Comment
Read more

Indiana man set for execution in state's second since 2009

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer is set to receive a lethal injection early Tuesday in the state’s second execution in 15 years. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there’s last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials.
Post a Comment
Read more

South Carolina | Death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed

A South Carolina death row inmate has said he wants to become his own attorney, a decision that would likely lead to his own execution after his best friend and four fellow inmates were put to death in less than a year. A 45-day delay in James Robertson's request was ordered by a federal judge, allowing time for a different lawyer to talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys. The consequences of his decision are likely to be lethal. The 51-year-old Robertson has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home. He beat his father with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat and stabbed his mother. He then tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee executes Oscar Franklin Smith

The state of Tennessee has executed Oscar Franklin Smith, sentenced to death for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife Judith Robirds Smith and her two teenage sons, Chad Burnett and Jason Burnett, in Nashville. Smith, 75, was killed by a fatal dose of the drug pentobarbital injected into his veins at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. He was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. May 22. Smith's execution marks a return to capital punishment in Tennessee after the governor instituted a moratorium on the state's most severe penalty. It had been five years since a Tennessee prisoner died by execution and six years since the state killed someone by lethal injection.
Post a Comment
Read more

Oscar Franklin Smith, Tennessee death row inmate, declines to select execution method

Oscar Franklin Smith, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution on May 22, will die by lethal injection if the process moves forward. Smith, who was asked to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, declined to pick, his attorney Kelley Henry, a supervisory assistant federal public defender, said. When an inmate does not choose, the method defaults to lethal injection. It's not the first time Smith has been given this grim decision and declined. That decision to not choose ultimately saved his life for three more years.
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida executes Glen Rogers

Florida executes suspected serial killer once eyed for possible link to the OJ Simpson case  A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the O.J. Simpson case that riveted the nation in the 1990s was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman found dead in a Tampa motel room.  Glen Rogers, 62, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., authorities said. He was convicted in Florida of the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of 2 he had met at a bar.
Read more

Iran | Convicted killer hanged in Tabriz. Execution carried out by his uncle, who was plaintiff in the case

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 10, 2025: Hassan Saei, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. His execution was carried out by his uncle, who was the plaintiff in the case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 6 May 2025. His identity has been established as Hassan Saei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hassan Saei was arrested for the murder of his cousin and his maternal uncle carried out the execution.”
Post a Comment
Read more

Texas Set to Execute Fourth Inmate of the Year

Matthew Johnson was convicted of the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris in Dallas County. Matthew Johnson’s guilt was never in question. On the stand during his 2013 trial, he admitted to the crime that landed him on death row. The attack—an early morning robbery and murder in a populous Dallas suburb—was also caught on camera. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on May 20, exactly 13 years to the day after he robbed a Fina Whip-In convenience store in Garland and set the store clerk on fire. Johnson was convicted of the murder of Nancy Harris, the 76-year-old clerk. 
Read more

Texas executes Matthew Lee Johnson

Texas man is executed 13 years to the day of a store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire  A Texas man was executed Tuesday evening, 13 years to the day of a convenience store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire in a Dallas suburb.  Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 20, 2012, attack on 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother he splashed with lighter fluid and set ablaze in the suburb of Garland. Badly burned, she died days afterward.
Post a Comment
Read more