Months after thousands of Keralites came together to raise humanitarian aid for the release of Kozhikode native Abdul Rahim from a jail in Saudi Arabia, a court in the Middle Eastern country is all set to consider his case on Sunday, November 17. Rahim Niyamasahaya Samithi, a legal and relief aid committee formed on Rahim’s behalf, announced on November 15 that they had raised a total amount of Rs 47.87 crore, out of which they spent Rs 36.27 crore towards the blood money to aid his release and the legal fees for advocates.
Rahim has been in prison for the past 18 years — with his death sentence soon due for execution — over the accidental death of a 15-year-old Saudi citizen in 2006. The court had agreed to revoke his death penalty if his family paid the blood money, which is a compensation paid by an offender or his kin to the family of the victim.
The committee members informed the media that nearly nine lakh people participated in the fundraising campaign, and that a decision regarding the use of the remaining funds would be made after Rahim’s return to Kerala. They also said that the accounts were being released publicly because of the ongoing smear campaign against the committee on social media.
Abdul Rahim was an autorickshaw driver in Kozhikode’s Feroke before he moved to Saudi at the age of 26. There, he worked as a driver at a Saudi citizen’s house, doubling as the caretaker of his employer’s partially paralysed son. As per reports, the boy could only breathe and consume food through a medical support device attached to his neck. Rahim is said to have accidentally dislocated the device, leading to the boy’s death. He was subsequently sentenced to death in 2018, when his employer’s family refused to forgive him.
Though Rahim’s family filed an appeal against Rahim’s sentence, a court upheld the verdict in 2022. But the execution of the sentence was put on hold after the family agreed to pay a blood money of 15 million Saudi riyals, which roughly converts to Rs 34 crore. An agreement to this effect was signed on October 16, 2022.
Later, in a massive fundraising campaign, thousands of Keralites from around the globe ended up joining hands to collect the money towards Rahim’s release. An action committee was also formed by his friends and relatives to accelerate the campaign, and a mobile application called ‘SAVEABDULRAHIM’ was also launched.