Malayalis raise ₹34 cr. to release Rahim from death row

In what could arguably be termed the biggest crowdfunding for humanitarian aid in the history of the State, thousands of Keralites, both in India and abroad, have joined hands to raise around ₹34 crore in around four days as blood money for the release of a Kozhikode native jailed in Saudi Arabia. Malayali brethren from all walks of life did everything from Biriyani Challenge to selling tea during this period to raise the funds to deposit in the Saudi court for Abdul Rahim, who has been in a jail in the Gulf country for the last 18 years and is facing death sentence in a few days for the death of a 15-year-old Saudi citizen in 2006.

In what could arguably be termed the biggest crowdfunding for humanitarian aid in the history of the State, thousands of Keralites, both in India and abroad, have joined hands to raise around ₹34 crore in around four days as blood money for the release of a Kozhikode native jailed in Saudi Arabia.

Malayali brethren from all walks of life did everything from Biriyani Challenge to selling tea during this period to raise the funds to deposit in the Saudi court for Abdul Rahim, who has been in a jail in the Gulf country for the last 18 years and is facing death sentence in a few days for the death of a 15-year-old Saudi citizen in 2006.

“We can’t believe we have done it. Even on Thursday we were not sure we could source this big an amount,” Abdul Samad, Mr. Rahim’s neighbour in his home town Feroke in Kozhikode district of Kerala, could not hide his enthusiasm while talking to The Hindu. Hundreds gathered at Mr. Rahim’s house at Kodampuzha in Feroke on Friday evening after the news of the success of the fundraiser came out. “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,” Mr. Samad added.

Mr. Samad is part of the Abdul Rahim Legal Assistance Committee, constituted just for the purpose of fundraising. This is besides the consecrated efforts of around 60 organisations in the Gulf and the massive social media campaign led by industrialist Bobby Chemanur for the purpose.

Mr. Rahim, an autorickshaw driver in Feroke, was just 26 when he reached Saudi Arabia in search of a better livelihood and started working for a Saudi citizen as his driver and caretaker of his son, who was partially paralysed. The boy breathed and ate through a special device attached to his neck. In Mr. Rahim’s version of the fatal incident, he accidentally dislocated the instrument while trying to control the boy who was making a fuss demanding him to violate a red signal on the road. The boy soon fainted and died.

It was in 2018 that Mr. Rahim was sentenced to be executed and the victim’s family was not ready to forgive him. However, they eventually agreed for a blood money of 15 million Saudi riyals (roughly ₹34 crore). The rest is history.

The legal assistance committee plans to remit the money in the court on April 15 and expects to have Mr. Rahim released at the earliest.