Highlights
- Abdul Rahim was jailed in Saudi Arabia in 2006.
- He was sentenced to death in 2011.
- A global crowdfunding campaign raised about $4 million.
- The victim’s family accepted blood money and pardoned him.
- Rahim is now awaiting final release procedures.
Nearly 20 years after leaving Kerala in search of work, Abdul Rahim is finally preparing to return home from Saudi Arabia. His return comes after years of legal battles, fear, uncertainty, and a massive public fundraising campaign that helped save him from execution.
Rahim, a native of Kozhikode district in Kerala, has been in a Saudi prison since December 2006 in connection with the death of a teenager under his care. He was arrested less than a month after arriving in Saudi Arabia for work. The then 26-year-old was later sentenced to death by a Saudi court in 2011.
Higher courts upheld the sentence, leaving his family in Kerala under the constant fear that he could be executed at any time.
His situation changed in 2024 after long negotiations with the victim’s family.
Global fundraising campaign saved Rahim
The victim’s family eventually agreed to pardon Rahim in exchange for blood money worth about $4 million. The amount was impossible for Rahim’s poor family to arrange on their own.
A large crowdfunding campaign was then launched with support from Malayalis around the world. Donations came from workers, expatriates, social organizations, and public figures. The campaign quickly became one of Kerala’s biggest community-led fundraising efforts.
After the compensation was accepted by the victim’s family, the death sentence against Rahim was canceled. However, Saudi authorities ordered him to complete a 20-year prison sentence.
According to the Arabic calendar used in the case, that prison term ended on May 20 this year.
Back in Kozhikode, Rahim’s family is now waiting emotionally for his return home.
“We are all eagerly waiting to see him back. It has been an ordeal for all of us,” said Rahim’s brother Nazir.
“Our father Muhammedkutty died six months after Rahim was jailed in Saudi Arabia. Our mother Fathima could meet him only once in all these years, in November 2024, after the pardon came through. Occasional video calls were the only relief for us.”
People involved in the campaign said the final legal procedures for his release are now underway.
Majeed Ambalakkandy, convener of the action committee formed to coordinate the campaign, said Indian embassy officials, social worker Asharaf Vengad, and Rahim’s power-of-attorney holder Siddique Tuvvur are working with Saudi authorities to complete the process.
“Rahim has completed his 20-year jail term. Once the remaining legal formalities inside the prison system are completed, his release will become a reality,” Ambalakkandy said.
Arrest came weeks after arrival in Saudi Arabia
Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, Rahim worked as an autorickshaw and school bus driver in Kerala to support his family. He was the youngest among six siblings.
Rahim reached Riyadh on November 28, 2006, after getting a job as a driver.
According to details presented during the case, Rahim was also asked to assist his employer’s 17-year-old son. The teenager was paralyzed and depended on a breathing apparatus for support.
On December 24, 2006, Rahim was driving with the teenager seated in the back of the vehicle. During the journey, the breathing support device reportedly became detached, leading to the boy’s death.
Rahim was arrested within days of the incident. He had been in Saudi Arabia for only 28 days when he was taken into custody.
The case later drew attention from Kerala’s expatriate community. Even after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, campaigners continued trying to negotiate with the victim’s family.
Mediation opened path to freedom
A breakthrough came in October 2022 when the victim’s family agreed to mediation talks. One year later, they agreed to accept blood money instead of execution.
Mediators reportedly fixed April 16, 2024, as the final deadline to save Rahim from execution.
With time running out and Rahim’s family unable to raise the large amount, residents of Feroke in Kozhikode formed an action committee in March 2024.
The group launched a crowdfunding platform called “Save Abdul Rahim.” Appeals for support spread quickly across social media and expatriate networks around the world.
Within weeks, the campaign successfully collected about $4 million.
Among those who publicly supported the campaign was businessman Boby Chemmanur. He traveled from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to raise awareness and collect funds for Rahim’s release.
Now, after nearly two decades in prison, Rahim’s family is waiting for the moment they once believed might never come — his return home to Kerala.
