The surfacing of an old tweet by Lesedi Molapisi, a 30-year-old woman from Botswana facing the death penalty for drug-trafficking in Bangladesh, has garnered attention.
A report from Bangladeshi New Age on January 24, 2022, revealed that Molapisi was apprehended at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka after arriving from South Africa via a Qatar Airways flight through Doha.
Following a bag scan, Bangladeshi customs officials discovered over 3kg of a heroin-like granular substance. Molapisi denied any knowledge of the drugs in her bags.
In a tweet dated January 10, 2022, just a few days before her arrest, she wrote; “Catch flights, not feelings.”
In November, there were unconfirmed reports circulating on social media about Molapisi’s execution. However, her father, Goitsemodimo Molapisi, confirmed that she is alive and awaiting a trial date.
He stated that he receives updates about her through an intermediary contracted by an African association in Bangladesh to assist her.
“She says she’s fine and as we speak she is mentioning the trial hasn’t yet started,” her father affirmed.
He added that she had a court mention on November 14 but the trial had not begun.
Her father mentioned that the family had no knowledge of her travel plans and only learned of her arrest from the media, seven days after she had left home.
Goitsemodimo also stated that his daughter was unaware of any drugs in her luggage.
Bangladesh upholds the death penalty for a wide range of offenses and carries it out regularly.
Molapisi revealed that he had learned of a letter from a business in Pretoria to Bangladeshi authorities seeking a visa for his daughter to travel there for the purpose of buying ready-made garments to be resold in Southern Africa.
Prior to that, she had been unemployed, he mentioned.
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