Rs 34 cr raised through crowdfunding to secure man’s release from Saudi jail

Rs 34 cr raised through crowdfunding to secure man’s release from Saudi jail

Mangalore Today News Network

Saudi Arabia, April 13, 2024: A whopping Rs. 34 crore has been raised through crowdfunding to pay blood money for the release of a Kozhikode native facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Rahim, a native of Feroke in Kozhikode, is facing death sentence on charges of murdering his employer’s differently abled son.

 

With the family of the deceased agreeing to accept the blood money of 15 million Saudi Riyals, around Rs. 34 crore, an action council was formed by his friends and relatives for raising the funds, especially since the death of the child was an accidental one and not intentional.

The action council launched a mobile app ’SAVE ABDUL RAHIM’, for crowdfunding last month. Now it received over Rs. 34 crore, a major chunk of which came in the last one week. Rahim’s friends in Saudi also conducted fund raising drives. Migrant workers to businessmen were also among those who made the contributions.

Rahim’s mother Fathima told the media that she was eagerly awaiting the return of his son after 18 years.

Kerala public works minister P A Mohammed Riyas, who visited the family said that This is the real Kerala story. Cutting across political and religious affiliations, people contributed for Rahim’s release, he told the media.

Rahim, who was working as an autorickshaw driver in Kozhikode, went aboard in 2006 when he was around 20. He was working as a driver for a family. On one ill-fated day in 2006 the differently abled child in the family entered into an altercation with him. In the mele that followed, a breathing aid device attached on the boy’s body got detached and he subsequently died.

Though the boy’s family initially refused to accept the blood money, they later agreed following strong persuasion.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald