KOZHIKODE: In the quiet pocket of Kodampuzha in Kozhikode’s Ramanattukara municipality, 76-year-old Pathu (Fathima) is counting down the days until her son returns home.
For the past two decades, Abdul Rahim, 44, the son of Pathu and the late Muhammad Kutty, has been languishing in a Saudi Arabian jail after being charged with murder. With just one week left for the completion of his 20-year sentence on May 20, his family house, Machillakath, is getting ready to bid adieu to years of uncertainty and welcome hope.
On November 28, 2006, Rahim had left for Saudi Arabia as a young, 24-year-old man with a dream of earning his way to a better future for him and his family. Scheduled to work as a driver in the West Asian nation, he landed in Riyadh. However, within a month, Rahim was incarcerated following the accidental death of Anas-al-Shahri, the 15-year-old son of his sponsor, Fayiz Abdullah Abdurahman al-Shahri.
Anas, who was paralysed from the neck down, used to depend on a specialised device for food and water. Rahim accidentally struck the device fitted on Anas’s neck while travelling in the car, resulting in the teen’s death.
Sentenced to death in 2012, Rahim’s only hope lay in ‘Diyat’, or blood money. In an unprecedented display of compassion, the global Malayali community united to raise a staggering 15 million Saudi Riyals (approximately Rs 34 crore) to secure a pardon for Rahim under private rights.
“It has been nearly three years of tireless work since the action council was formed in 2023,” said K Suresh, chairman of the Rahim Legal Assistance Committee in Kodampuzha. He said while the fundraising eventually neared Rs 37 crore, the surplus was vital for covering the extensive legal fees and administrative costs.
“The Saudi government will handle Rahim’s travel, placing him on the next available flight once the legal procedures are over,” Suresh said, acknowledging the coordination of groups like the KMCC, OICC and volunteers like Ashraf Vengat and Hussain Vellanchira.
Back in Ramanattukara, the anticipation is palpable. Rahim’s elder brother, Nazeer, remains cautious yet deeply moved as the date approaches. “We haven’t received the exact details yet, but we are all waiting. It could be any time after the 20th,” Nazeer said.
As the final technical hurdles vanish, a community and a mother stand ready to welcome home a man who has been lost to time for 20 years.