Bangladesh called on Sunday (3) for a migrant worker to be repatriated from Saudi Arabia after her tearful video alleging sexual abuse highlighted the exploitation faced by poor Asians working abroad.
Since 1991, some 300,000 Bangladeshi women have travelled to the Gulf nation to work, according to the ministry of expatriates' welfare.
Those workers account for the largest amount of wages sent home to Bangladesh.
In a Facebook video which was shared thousands of times and prompted protests in Dhaka against worker conditions, Sumi Akter alleged "merciless sexual assaults" by her Saudi employers.
"I perhaps won't live longer. Please save me. They locked me up for 15 days and barely gave me any food. They burned my hands with hot oil," the 25-year-old Akter said.
The government in Dhaka on Sunday called on the state-run manpower exporting agency to bring Akter back home "as soon as possible".
Her husband Sirajul Islam said he had been "trying to get her back but couldn't".
Government spokesman Atiqur Rahman said Dhaka would crack down on rogue recruitment firms amid allegations that they abused female workers and sold them to other brokers.
But foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said Thursday his government would not ban women from going to Saudi Arabia for work.
"Saudi Arabia admitted some people are being victimised. But that is happening for a few handfuls of people. The Saudi government isn't making them victims," he told reporters.
Akter's video comes after the body of migrant worker Nazma Begum was repatriated in late October.
The 42-year-old Begum called her son Rajib Hossain repeatedly before her death, asking to be rescued and alleging torture, adding that she died of an untreated illness.
Both women said they were promised hospital janitor jobs but were tricked into being household maids.
Millions of Asians travel to the Gulf to work, according to Bangladesh's government, and human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses with no channels for redress.
Bangladeshi migrant rights group Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program said last month that 61 percent of 110 women they interviewed who returned home, many from Saudi Arabia, claimed they were physically abused.
Some 14 percent said they were sexually abused, the group added.
Dhaka-based BRAC, one of the world's largest charities, said this year alone, the bodies of 48 female workers were brought back from Saudi Arabia.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)