PUBLIC beheading of eight Bangladeshis on charges of robbery, killing and 'creating a reign of terror' in Riyadh as far back as in 2007 has rocked the country. It has been draconian, and thoroughly repugnant to norms of civility and human sensibilities. We condemn this with all the force of the language we are capable of mustering.

Saudi Arabia is revered as the birth place of the Prophet (SM) and of the religion Islam itself; it's a place of pilgrimage for the Muslims throughout the world. That is all the more reason why the pleas for mercy including that of the President of the Republic of Bangladesh were expected to be responded to upholding the true spirit of Islam which values humanity and compassion.

Execution itself as an act of delivering justice is on an exit course, but to make a public show of as many as eight beheadings of whatever nationality is the crudest display of an aberrant justice.

Quite clearly, for one murder, eight executions have been caused, leaving aside three more Bangladeshis receiving jail sentences and suffering flogging: Are we to understand that all the eight had killed a single person? What a travesty!

Legally and procedurally, retributive justice has seemingly been delivered in the name of 'law.' By the authorities' own admission, the guilty verdict was pronounced on the basis of 'confessions,' giving rise to a possible misgiving of those having been procured under duress. The Bangladesh mission reportedly provided legal counsel, though contested by the family, to those in the dock. But the accused or defendants were constrained by their shortcoming in Arabic language on top of the procedure itself lacking in transparency to be able to take appropriate defence.

We note with trepidation that the dead bodies have not been handed over to Bangladesh authorities. But don't the families of the executed have a right to bury them at home and perform ziarat at their graves? We demand the dead bodies be handed over.

For all we know, Philippines protested when some of their citizens were executed in Saudi Arabia. They raised a hue and cry.

The two million Bangladeshi workers earn us foreign exchange but also signally contribute to the Saudi economy. Our self respect demands that we strongly protest this inhuman act.