File: Nooses prepared to execute men. Photo by Wali Sabawoon / Wali Sabawoon/NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
GABORONE - Bangladesh has released a Botswana woman sentenced to death for drug trafficking, paving the way for her return home on Wednesday, the Botswana government said.
The freeing of the 33-year-old, who was arrested in Dhaka in 2022, follows diplomatic efforts by Botswana authorities and an appeal by President Duma Boko, it said in a statement.
"I can confirm that she will arrive in Botswana today," foreign minister Phenyo Butale told AFP.
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Lesedi Molapisi, 33, was reportedly found to be carrying heroin when she arrived in Bangladesh on a flight from South Africa. She was sentenced to death in 2024.
Botswana said its diplomatic missions in neighbouring South Africa and in India had also engaged with the Bangladeshi authorities over her case.
Amnesty International has said more than 2,000 people were known to be on death row in Bangladesh by the end of 2025, with 185 new death sentences recorded that year.
- AFP