Keralites living in India and abroad participated in a major crowdfunding exercise to raise around ₹34 crore in around four days to secure the release of Kozhikode native Abdul Rahim who is facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia.
According to a report by The Hindu, people in Kerala from all sections of the society contributed and organised events like Biriyani Challenge and even sold tea to raise the funds to deposit in the Saudi court for Abdul Rahim.
Abdul Rahim has been jailed in Saudi Arabia since the last 18 years and is on death row and is set to be executed in a few days for the death of a 15-year-old Saudi citizen in 2006.
Rahim reached Saudi Arabia when he was 26-years-old in a bid to find better livelihood. He worked for a Saudi citizen as his driver and caretaker of his son. The son of the Saudi citizen was partially paralysed.
A special device was attached to the neck of the child through which he breathed and ate. Rahim says he accidentally dislocated the instrument while trying to calm the boy down as the latter was making a fuss and demanding he violate a red signal on the road. Few moments later, he fainted and died.
Rahim was sentenced to be executed in 2018 and his employers were not ready to forgive him. Later they agreed for a ‘blood money’ of 15 million Saudi riyals which roughly equates to Rs 34 crore.
In the Saudi justice system, “blood money,” also known as “diya” in Arabic, refers to a form of compensation paid to the victim or the victim’s family in cases of injury or death caused by another individual. It is a financial settlement negotiated between the parties involved or determined by the court based on Islamic law (Sharia).
The Abdul Rahim Legal Assistance Committee, led by Keralites along with 60 organisations in the Gulf and industrialist Bobby Chemanur, will remit the money in Saudi court by April 15 and expects that Rahim will be released soon.
“We can’t believe we have done it. We could source this big an amount,” Rahim’s neighbour Abdul Samad was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
“Rahim’s mother and the other members of his family are still in a state of disbelief. They are a lower middle class family and never imagined they could raise such a huge amount,” he further added.
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