Mecca Execution ‘Indian Filmed Them’ Claim: What Is Known and What Is Not

Since 20 October, posts on Facebook and X, first from accounts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, have claimed that an Indian co-worker secretly filmed the two Bangladeshis executed in Mecca on 14 October, leaked the clip, and was jailed for 20 years. No official record supports any part of the Indian man’s story: Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry named only two people, and no Saudi, Bangladeshi or Indian authority has said a third person was arrested or sentenced. What has emerged instead is a Bangladeshi consular memo saying the man was held under Saudi Arabia’s cybercrime law, a detail Riyadh has not explained.

The Story About an Indian Co-Worker

The posts give a detailed account. They say the man, Nazrul Islam, asked an Indian friend to keep watch and record him with the woman near gates 85 and 87 of the Grand Mosque, and that the Indian later released the video after failing to win her over. All three were arrested, the posts say; the Indian got 20 years and the other two were sentenced to death, News24 reported on 22 October. One account that spread it belongs to a Pakistani party office-bearer based in Riyadh, the outlet said, and a Hajj news portal published a version without evidence. Similar posts later appeared from accounts in Nigeria and Afghanistan, News Karnataka reported.

The posts do not match official records on basic points. One names the woman “Sathi Akhtar” and gives dates for Nazrul’s arrival and the alleged offence that differ from those in Bangladeshi consular papers. No post names the Indian man or cites a court document.

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What the Two Governments Have Confirmed

Confirmed (Saudi Interior Ministry, via the Saudi Press Agency): two Bangladeshi nationals, named as Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, were executed in the Makkah region on 14 October after a court convicted them of an “immoral act” inside a mosque. The statement named no mosque, described no act and mentioned no one else.

Confirmed (Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah): a confidential memo dated 18 October, reported by The Daily Star, says Nazrul was detained on 1 August 2023 under Saudi Arabia’s cybercrime law and held at Jeddah Correctional Facility. The woman, whom the memo calls Suety Akhter and her family calls Sweety Akhtar, was detained the next day on an adultery allegation and held at Jeddah Women’s Prison. Both worked as cleaners for a company called Al Majal. The spellings of both names differ between Saudi, consular and family sources.

What No Official Source Supports

Not confirmed: that an Indian, or anyone else, filmed the pair, was arrested with them or received a 20-year term. IPB found no statement on the claim from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh or the Ministry of External Affairs.

False: a widely shared clip of a man and a woman near the Black Stone of the Kaaba, presented as the “evidence”. The Holy Mosques, a media outlet that reports from the two mosques in Mecca and Medina, said on X on 20 October that the video “is false and is not evidence of their execution”, Khaleej Times reported.

False: a second video showing a woman telling her husband she is pregnant. Fact Crescendo traced it to an Instagram post of 7 August by Khadija Belgoum, tagging Billy Rahman, who posted on 24 October that “false information is being circulated about us”. CyberPeace reached the same finding.

A Cybercrime Charge Nobody Has Explained

The cybercrime detail is what keeps the video theory alive, because a recording would fit a case under that law. But nothing official links the two. A list of prisoners the consulate received on 30 September included both names and showed no death sentence, and gave no offence for either of them, though it listed offences for 97 other inmates. The consulate knew of no earlier case in which a Bangladeshi was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for cybercrime or adultery, the memo says.

Saudi authorities have not said how a cybercrime detention and an adultery allegation became a death sentence for an act inside a mosque. They did not tell the Bangladeshi embassy or consulate of the sentences or the executions, the memo says. It does not say whether either defendant had a lawyer. The consulate has asked the Makkah branch of the Saudi foreign ministry for the judgments.

Dhaka Is Still Waiting

On 23 October, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said Saudi Arabia “has yet to provide new information”, the Daily Sun reported. The bodies have not been returned. In a separate move reported on 25 October, Supreme Court lawyer Tasmia Nuhia Ahmed sent a legal notice to the foreign secretary and two other officials seeking all documents on the case within 24 hours, warning of a writ petition in the High Court.

IPB’s earlier account of the executions and the first wave of claims is here. Saudi Arabia has had other strains with South Asian workers this month, including the Dammam airport attack that killed an Indian. More explainers are on our In-depth Analysis page.

Source: Saudi Interior Ministry statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, 14 October 2026; Bangladesh Consulate General, Jeddah, memo of 18 October 2026 as reported by The Daily Star. Also based on reporting by News24, Khaleej Times, Fact Crescendo, CyberPeace, Daily Sun, News Karnataka and Daily Waadaa.

Image: Jeddah, where the two were held (file photo) / Wikimedia Commons.