Two Bangladeshis held over indecent act inside Makkah mosque

Two Bangladeshi nationals, identified by Saudi authorities as Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, were executed this week after being convicted over what the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior described only as an immoral act, sexual intercourse, committed inside a mosque in Makkah.

For anyone following news out of Saudi Arabia, the case has landed with a jolt. Mosques in Makkah sit at the centre of the Islamic world, and the idea that two people were put to death over something that happened inside one has left plenty of people, in Kuwait and well beyond it, trying to piece together exactly what occurred.

The trouble is, the official version leaves a lot unanswered.

How the case unfolded

According to the Interior Ministry’s statement, carried by the Saudi Press Agency, security authorities arrested the two Bangladeshi nationals after the incident took place. From there, investigators built a case, formal charges were filed, and the matter was referred to court.

The court convicted both of them and handed down the death penalty under ta’zir. Unlike fixed punishments (hudud) set out explicitly in Islamic law for specific offences, ta’zir gives judges room to decide a punishment based on the severity and circumstances of a crime. In this case, the ministry said the court weighed the gravity of the offence and the fact that it violated the sanctity of both the place, a mosque, and the time in which it happened, though the statement did not specify what that timing was.

The verdict was then upheld by what the ministry called the competent authority, making it final. A royal order followed, authorising the executions to go ahead. Both were carried out on Wednesday, 14 October, in the Makkah region.

What Saudi authorities said about it

In its statement, the Ministry of Interior framed the executions as part of a broader commitment to security, justice and the enforcement of Islamic law, specifically against anyone who violates the sanctity of mosques or commits offences against personal honour. It added a warning: anyone found committing similar offences would face the punishment set out by law.

What the ministry did not do is fill in the practical details people naturally want to know. It didn’t name the mosque where the incident reportedly took place. It didn’t say when or where the two were arrested. And it didn’t describe, beyond the phrase used in the statement, exactly what the act involved. For now, that’s simply not public information.

Bangladesh says it wasn’t told

The case has also opened a diplomatic question. Bangladesh’s Consulate General in Jeddah told The Daily Star, in a report published on 16 October, that it had not received advance notice of the executions. A consular official said the mission had since submitted a diplomatic note to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, formally asking for acknowledgement of what happened to its two nationals.

That’s a notable gap. Countries usually expect to be informed, even if only after the fact, when their citizens face capital punishment abroad. Whether Bangladesh receives a fuller response, and what that response contains, is something worth watching in the days ahead.

What this means if you live in Kuwait

This case happened in Saudi Arabia, not Kuwait, and nothing in the ministry’s statement suggests any link to Kuwaiti residents or institutions. Still, the story carries weight for the large Bangladeshi and South Asian communities across the Gulf, including in Kuwait, where family members and friends may be following the consulate’s efforts to get answers.

It’s also a reminder, for anyone travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah or Hajj, of how seriously Saudi authorities treat offences they consider a violation of a mosque’s sanctity, and how differently capital cases there can proceed compared with courts in Kuwait or South Asia. Ta’zir sentencing gives Saudi judges wide discretion, and sentences of this kind are rarely detailed publicly beyond an official statement.

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