Shahzadi Khan: Indian woman executed in UAE for killing baby

An Indian woman working as a domestic helper in the United Arab Emirates has been executed after being convicted of murdering her employer's child. The Indian government has confirmed that the woman, named Shahzadi Khan, was executed last month.

According to Abu Dhabi court documents, Shahzadi Khan was suspected of suffocating a baby boy to death. However, a doctor who testified at the trial stated that he could not confirm this claim because he was not allowed to perform an autopsy. Shahzadi Khan's family maintains her innocence, stating that the four-month-old baby died from an incorrect vaccination administered on the day of his death. They also claim that Shahzadi Khan did not receive "adequate defense" during her trial. The BBC has contacted UAE authorities for comment.

The execution was carried out on February 15, but Indian authorities did not confirm the news until March 3, after Shahzadi Khan's parents petitioned the Delhi High Court for information about their daughter's situation. The secrecy surrounding the execution has raised widespread concerns in India, which maintains close ties with the United Arab Emirates, where hundreds of thousands of Indians live and work.

According to the petition filed by Shahzadi Khan's family, she traveled to Abu Dhabi in December 2021 to work as a caregiver for the Indian family. She was entrusted with the care of the baby, who was born in August of the following year. Shahzadi Khan's father stated that she often called her family in Uttar Pradesh, India, and showed them the baby through video calls. However, after the baby's death, the calls stopped, and the family later learned that Shahzadi Khan had been imprisoned. According to Shahzadi Khan's family, the baby died on December 7, 2022, just hours after receiving a vaccination.

Police arrested Shahzadi Khan two months later. She maintained that a video recording showing her confessing to the murder of the baby was made under duress and that she did not receive proper legal support in court. She was sentenced to death in July 2023, and her appeal was rejected in February 2024. Shahzadi Khan's family stated that they last heard from her on February 13 of this year, when she called from prison to say that she might be executed the next day. Her father, Shabir Khan, told the BBC: "She kept crying, saying she had been put in a separate cell and that she would not come out alive, and that this might be her last call."

After Shahzadi Khan's family did not hear from her after that, they filed a petition with the Delhi High Court, requesting the Indian government to provide information on whether she had been executed. Shahzadi Khan's family stated that they believe she did not receive "adequate defense," which led to her death sentence. Her father, Shabir Khan, said in an interview with the Press Trust of India: "She did not get justice. I have been running around since last year, trying every means. But I did not have the money to go there (Abu Dhabi) to hire a lawyer."

Following Shahzadi Khan's conviction, her employer earlier released a statement to BBC Hindi, stating: "Shahzadi brutally and intentionally murdered my son, which has been proven by the authorities in the United Arab Emirates based on all the evidence. Misleading information is being provided to the media and other authorities to gain (their) sympathy and divert attention from the actual crime she committed." In February, the Indian government informed Parliament that a total of 54 Indians had been sentenced to death in foreign countries, including 29 in the UAE.