She left Bangladesh with hope; returned pregnant and broken

Farhana (not her real name) left Bangladesh towards the end of December 2024, in search of a better life. She thought a job in a Saudi company would help improve her life marred by poverty and widowhood.

She returned to Bangladesh on February 9 this year -- pregnant, starved, and subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, imprisonment, abuse.

On May 24, she gave birth to a baby girl under BRAC’s supervision. Today, after being cared for by BRAC and Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) for nearly three months, she left for her village home with her mother and daughter.

“However hard life may be, whatever little we earn in Bangladesh is better [than abroad]. Before going abroad, I thought my life would change. But after reaching there, I realised how people are sold,” she lamented.

Born in Chattogram in 1997, she lost her father early and was raised by her grandparents after her mother remarried.

She ran away from home, took shelter at a madrasa and a woman brought her to Dhaka. Farhana got married in her teens. After her husband’s death, she was alone, poor, with a young son and another child on the way. Unable to provide for both, she gave away her then newborn daughter to another family.

Farhana took up a job at a garment factory. Soon after, a broker she met promised her a job in a company in Saudi Arabia. She paid for her passport, medical tests and processing, and gave him Tk 10,000 commission.

Once she landed in Saudi Arabia, everything changed.

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She was kept at a hotel along with two Bangladeshi women for days on end and provided meagre food. Later, a Saudi national took her away.

She had been told she would work at a house temporarily before being transferred to the company job. Instead, she alleged, her passport, phone and belongings were confiscated, and she was forced into domestic work at a five-storey house.

Driven by hunger, she once ate dates from the family’s refrigerator. After checking CCTV footage, she said, the family locked away food and restricted her access to the kitchen.

A family member later used a translation app to tell her she had been bought for 10,000 Saudi riyals and her three months’ salary had been paid.

“That’s when I realised I had been sold,” she said.

Farhana said one of her employer’s sons sexually harassed her. When she complained, the family blamed her instead. She fled, wandered in Madinah, and sought help from local police. She did not get any help, she said.

Later, a Bangladeshi woman named Putul promised her work in Jeddah. A Bangladeshi driver, Khalil, took her there.

Upon arrival, Farhana alleged, she was pressured into sex work, beaten and confined after refusing. They claimed they had spent 3,000 riyals to bring her to Jeddah and would not release her until they were repaid, she said.

She eventually agreed to the deal. She alleged she was taken to hotels where others collected money by sexually exploiting her.

Weeks later, she escaped again and took refuge in Makkah, surviving by selling prayer beads, bottled water and other items for pilgrimage.

There, she met a Pakistani man who initially helped her find work. He later introduced her to a Pakistani woman who claimed she would arrange accommodation.

According to Farhana, she was taken to a house in the desert, confined and sexually exploited.

As she fell ill, she informed her female captor. By evening, she said, Saudi police detained her.

A medical examination later revealed that she was pregnant. Farhana alleged she was then taken to prison and subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including whipping, electric shocks, and injections that at times left her unconscious.

After five months in prison, Farhana was repatriated to Bangladesh. That night, with help from the Airport Armed Police Battalion, she contacted BRAC’s Migration Programme, which provided food and transport expenses.

On March 8, she was referred to a BNWLA shelter centre in Gazipur, where she received counselling and healthcare support. Roksana Roni, administrative officer of the centre, said Farhana’s condition had improved.

Nanjiba Kabir, case management officer of BRAC Migration Programme, said medical care, counselling, safe accommodation, and legal support had been arranged.

The case adds to earlier accounts of abused Saudi returnees and calls for formal airport support.

According to the Migration Programme, around 3,000 women return to Bangladesh from the Middle East every year, mostly from Saudi Arabia, and many report experiencing physical and sexual abuse despite migrating through official government channels and licensed recruiting agencies.

Shariful Hasan, associate director (Migration and Youth Platform) at BRAC, told The Daily Star that the pattern is often similar: women are abused abroad and sent back home without any action being taken against those responsible.

“We have supported such survivors before with medical treatment, accommodation, childbirth-related care and other essential services. But what is the state doing? Where is the mechanism to support these women after they return?” he questioned.

“Even after four months, no government agency has contacted her or taken responsibility for her situation,” he added.

“The state must take responsibility for these women and their children, and those responsible for the abuse must be held accountable. We need answers to why such abuses continue, why perpetrators remain unpunished, and what role the state is playing to ensure justice and protection,” he said.

Before leaving, Farhana said she wanted her daughter to get the opportunities she never had. She hoped to find “a good family” for the child so that she could grow up in a better environment.

“I do not want any other woman to face that kind of life,” she said.