Lesedi Molapisi freed from Bangladesh death row

Bangladesh has released Lesedi Molapisi, a 33-year-old Botswana woman sentenced to death for drug trafficking, and she was expected to return home Wednesday, the Botswana government said.

Botswana said the release followed diplomatic efforts by its authorities and an appeal by President Duma Boko. Foreign Minister Phenyo Butale told AFP that Molapisi would arrive in Botswana on Wednesday.

Molapisi was arrested in Dhaka in 2022 and sentenced to death in 2024. Botswana said its diplomatic missions in South Africa and India had also engaged 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.