Drug Smuggling Botswana Woman Molapisi Released After Death Sentence in Bangladesh

Gaborone — Botswana national Lesedi Molapisi, who was sentenced to death in Bangladesh after being convicted of drug smuggling, has been released following more than four years in detention, the Botswana Government has announced.

In a statement, the Office of the President of Botswana said, on Tuesday, September 1, that Molapisi had been released from the Bangladesh prison where she was held after being sentenced to death on May 27, 2024.

“Ms. Lesedi Molapisi has been released from the Bangladesh prison where she was held following her sentencing to death on 27th May 2024, by the courts in Bangladesh,” the Government of Botswana said in the statement, dated September 1.

Molapisi was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on January 23, 2022, after Bangladesh authorities found more than 3kg of heroin in her luggage.

Contemporary Bangladesh reports say customs officials intercepted her as she passed through the airport's green channel after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from South Africa via Doha.

A search of her trolley bag reportedly uncovered eight packages containing about 3.145kg of heroin.

She was subsequently handed over to police and charged under Bangladesh's stringent narcotics laws. 

The case later became a closely watched criminal cases involving a Botswana citizen abroad after a Dhaka court convicted Molapisi and sentenced her to death on May 27, 2024.

The Bangladesh government's Narcotics Control Act of 2018 provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain serious offences involving quantities of heroin and other Class A narcotics exceeding specified thresholds.

The law provides for death or life imprisonment for offences involving more than 25 grammes of certain narcotics, including heroin.

Following the death sentence, the Botswana Government mounted diplomatic efforts to secure clemency for Molapisi.

The Office of the President said President Duma Gideon Boko personally appealed for executive clemency and for the commutation of the death sentence.

“Her release follows concerted efforts undertaken by the Government of Botswana advocating for her release, including an appeal by President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko for executive clemency and commutation of Ms. Molapisi’s death sentence,” the statement said.

The Ministry of International Relations was also instructed to pursue the matter through diplomatic channels.

Botswana Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Phenyo Butale is said engaged former Bangladesh interim Prime Minister, Dr. Muhammad Yunus as well as Bangladesh's current Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Khalilur Rahman over Molapisi's case.

Botswana's diplomatic missions in South Africa and India were also involved in providing consular assistance and support.

The Government further said it worked with local and international human rights organisations, including Botswana's Ditshwanelo, to ensure Molapisi had access to appropriate legal representation.

The intervention came against the background of growing concern over the use of capital punishment for drug-related offences.

In June 2024, Amnesty International and other human rights organisations called on Bangladesh to commute Molapisi's sentence, arguing that the death penalty should be restricted under international law to the “most serious crimes”, generally understood to involve intentional killing. 

Molapisi's case had previously generated confusion and false reports on social media that she had already been executed.

In December 2022, Bangladesh's Daily Star reported that African media outlets had incorrectly claimed Molapisi had been executed or was about to be executed, despite her trial not having started at that stage.

Her defence lawyer at the time, Chamon Afroza, told one newspaper that “the news on Molapisi's execution in the narcotics case is totally false.”

Amnesty International described the case as involving a death sentence for a drug-related offence and urged Bangladesh to move towards abolition of capital punishment. 

The Botswana Government expressed gratitude to Bangladesh for allowing Molapisi to leave prison, framing the development as a reflection of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

“The Government hereby expresses its deep appreciation to the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for granting Ms. Molapisi clemency,” the statement said.

It added that the development was “a testament to the strong bonds of cooperation” between Botswana and Bangladesh and to the countries' shared commitment to mutual respect.

The release ends more than four years of uncertainty for Molapisi, whose case began with her arrest at Dhaka airport in January 2022, culminated in a death sentence in May 2024 and ultimately resulted in diplomatic intervention by Botswana's Government.