Rs 34 crore blood money for Keralite on death row in Saudi Arabia set to be achieved, mother thankful
Kozhikode (Kerala): Fatima, mother of Abdul Rahim, who is on death row in Saudi Arabia, cannot hide her happiness as a staggering Rs 30 crore, of blood money to save him from execution, has been raised through crowdfunding.
Abdul Rahim requires another Rs 4 crore as a court in Saudi Arabia ruled in October last year that if he pays Rs 34 crore as blood money to the family of the victim, then he will be free. The last date for the payment of the blood money is April 18.
His house here is buzzing with activity after Fatima last month issued a passionate plea seeking help from all to save her son.
First, the local mosques came to her support and soon when the media took it up, an action committee to save the life of Abdul Rahim was formed and an app seeking contributions from all kind-hearted souls from across the globe was created.
“On March 19, we were able to raise only Rs 1 crore and on Friday, we touched Rs 30.11 crore. At the moment, we have decided to stop as it was decided to do an audit. We will resume it again later in the day and given the fantastic response that we saw, we are confident we will be able to achieve the target and Abdul Rahim and his mother will be able to meet soon,” a representative of the group behind this crowdfunding venture said.
An auto driver here, Abdul Rahim was drawn to the Gulf to make more money. He reached Saudi Arabia in 2006 and got a job as a personal driver-cum-care taker of a 15-year-old physically challenged boy, who also had a medical ailment where he breathed through an external device connected to his body.
The boy, according to Abdul Rahim, misbehaved with him while he was driving and as he was trying to quieten him, his hand accidentally touched the external medical device and it fell down and the boy died.
A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced him for murder and the appeal court upheld this verdict in 2022, a decision later confirmed by the country’s Supreme Court.
Then following numerous discussions with the Saudi family, they settled for blood money and the last date for it is April 18.
An elated Fatima thanked each and every one who came to her support.
“I just cannot describe what I am feeling now as something which we felt might not be achieved is about to be achieved. All I can say is I am thankful to each and everyone,” said Fatima, who is eagerly hoping that she can see her son soon.
