CLAIM: Lesedi Molapisi, who was sentenced to death in Bangladesh has been hanged 10:30 Friday, 21 March 2025 (GMT+6) Time in Bangladesh
SOURCE: Social media
VERDICT: False
Lesedi Molapisi is a Botswana national, who was arrested and convicted of drug trafficking in Bangladesh. On January 23, 2022, Molapisi, a 30-year-old Motswana woman, was detained and arrested at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
After receiving an anonymous tip, the airport customs officials intercepted Molapisi after she flew in from South Africa via Doha, Qatar.
She was found with over 3 kg of heroin and was in May 2024 sentenced to death.
On March 21, 2025 messages claiming that Molapisi had been executed at 10:30 am began appearing on social media platforms. Shortly thereafter, the posts went viral.
Some of these posts appeared on X here, here and here.
They also appeared on Facebook here and here.
An account on X that posted an image with the claim that Molapisi had been executed had garnered 1,8 million views, 7,000 likes and over a thousand bookmarks by the time of this fact check.
To prove the ‘accuracy’ of these claims, an account on X even posted what he said was a statement from the Bangladesh authorities:
However, a simple google search shows that rather than this being a statement from the Bangladesh government, it is an excerpt from an online Zimbabwe newspaper, The Zimbabwe Mail.
The story has no sources, relying on ‘reports’.
Not executed
Despite the claims being widespread, they are untrue. The first red flag was that there was no official communication from any of the concerned parties – the Bangladesh and Botswana governments or Molapisi’s family.
Interestingly, Botswana’s High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh, Gilbert Shimane Mangole, had appeared on Duma FM rubbishing these claims, the previous day on March 20, 2025.
He stated that his government has been in touch with Molapisi, her lawyers and also the Bangladesh authorities over the matter and that there is an appeal hearing that will be coming up.
Mangole said besides the appeal, the Botswana government is doing all it can to resolve the situation and avoid execution. ‘We want to take the issue at a political and diplomatic level and our President Duma Boko has also committed to making sure that Bangladesh forgives Molapisi,’ Mangole said, as quoted by Botswana’s newspaper, Mmegi. He said they want to facilitate a meeting between Boko and the Bangladesh President.
Her father, Goitsemodimo Molapisi appeared on Newzroom Africa, confirming that his daughter is still alive. He said that while they remain hopeful that she will be extradited to Botswana, the false reports around her execution have brought ‘great pain’ to the family.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that false reports of Molapisi’s execution have circulated.
On November 26, 2022, an account on X posted that Molapisi had been executed. This was way before her sentencing, which only happened in 2024.
This also happened in mid March 2025 where an account on X claimed that she had been executed in May 2024, ‘Do you remember this babe? Her name was Lesedi Molapisi from Botswana. She was apprehended in 2022 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Bangladesh in possession of 3.145kg of heroin. She was sentenced to death and executed last year in May.’
Conclusion
Despite widespread claims that Lesedi Molapisi, a Motswana woman sentenced to death in Bangladesh, was executed on March 21, 2025, there is no truth to it. The claims are false and Molapisi remains incarcerated in Bangladesh while appeal hearings proceed. Her government is also in talks with Bangladesh authorities to resolve the issue. Although Botswana has the death penalty on its statutes, with the last execution happening in August 2024, it is in talks with Bangladesh to spare its citizen.
