Seven international rights groups (including Amnesty International, ADPAN, CPJP, The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, Eleos Justice, International Federation for Human Rights, and Odhikar) issued a joint statement on Wednesday urging the Bangladeshi government to abolish the death penalty. The statement comes in light of the death sentence given to Lesedi Molapisi by a Dhaka court on May 28, 2024. Molapisi, a national of Botswana, was caught with over three kilograms of heroin at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in January 2022. An appeal of this decision has been filed.

The Narcotics Control Act, which was passed in 1990 and amended in 2018, allows for the death penalty or life imprisonment to be given to anyone in possession of more than 25 grams of heroin. The groups argue that the death penalty is a harsh and excessive punishment for drug possession, which is a non-violent crime. Further, by being a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been interpreted to allow death penalty only in grave cases where intentional killing is involved, Bangladesh is formally prohibited from attaching death penalty as the punishment to drug possession.

While these main arguments aimed at interim relief, the groups’ statement called for a moratorium on evictions and unequivocally favored the eventual abolition of the death penalty:

The global community is in clear support of steps towards the abolition of the death penalty, as demonstrated by the 112 countries that are fully abolitionist and more than two-thirds (144) of countries that are abolitionist in law and practice. The government of Bangladesh should abolish the death penalty in relation to drug offences and commute the sentences of those currently on death row for drug offences, as first important steps. Further, the government should ensure that every person charged with a death eligible offence has meaningful access to justice through adequate funding for competent legal representation, including funding to obtain expert evidence as required. Moreso, they should follow the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty, starting by declaring a moratorium on executions.

In the meantime, the organizations urged the government to use its powers under sections 401 and 402 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to commute the death penalty given to Molapisi.