Dhaka, Bangladesh
A human rights organization asked the Bangladesh high court on Tuesday to probe the government's role in the beheading of eight Bangladeshi immigrants in Saudi Arabia.
Manzill Murshid, an attorney for Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, told journalists that the judges will hear the petition on Wednesday.
On Friday, eight Bangladeshis were beheaded in public at Justice Square in the Saudi capital Riyadh after they confessed to robbing a warehouse and killing the security guard, Egyptian national Hussein Saeed Mohammed Abdulkhaleq, in April 2007.
The Saudi authorities turned down a clemency appeal from Bangladesh amid outcry from rights groups, including Amnesty International.
The Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh, Dr. Abdullah Al Bussairy, on Monday defended the execution. He said the convicts were given legal assistance and enough time to argue their case during the four-year trial.
Amnesty International had argued the trial was not free and fair.
The ambassador said under sharia law practiced in Saudi Arabia only the victim's family can forgive the accused in exchange for blood money, but the Egyptian victim's family declined to accept the blood money despite repeated efforts by the Bangladesh embassy.
"The Saudi government acts to implement the law of Allah. We had nothing to do but to uphold the sanctions of Allah. The sharia law has been implemented through the execution," the ambassador said.
Both Egyptian and Bangladeshi diplomats had worked with the family of the slain guard to find an alternate resolution, but Bussairy said they rejected attempts at negotiation or offers of "blood money." Instead, the Saudi official said, the family insisted on "kisash," which means blood for blood, with the execution of the Bangladeshis.
Asked about criticism of the execution by international rights organizations, Bussairy said the law of Allah gets precedence over how the rights groups interpret Saudi divine laws.
He rejected suggestions that the executions would strain relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Bussairy said Bangladesh-Saudi relations are deep rooted and such an incident would in no way affect the ties.
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