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Indians rallied in a display of solidarity to raise £3.2m “blood money” for a man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for accidentally killing a disabled boy.
Abdul Rahim, from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was imprisoned after a paralysed boy on life support died in 2006. According to local media reports, the life support system came off while Mr Rahim was driving the 15-year-old in a car, leading to his death.
Mr Rahim has been in prison ever since.
In 2018, a Saudi court gave him the death sentence after the boy’s family refused to grant him amnesty. The judgment was upheld by the country’s top court last year before the victim’s family expressed willingness to pardon him in exchange for £3.2m (Rs 340m) blood money.
Mr Rahim, who belongs to an impoverished family, couldn’t possibly raise the money. That’s when several civil society organisations came together in early March to help save him from the gallows. They managed to raise the amount three days before Mr Rahim’s scheduled execution on 16 April.
This is the “real Kerala story“, said Ashraf Venghat, a Keralite businessman based in Saudi Arabia who helped with the donation drive, referring to a Bollywood film called The Kerala Story that’s widely seen as a piece of right-wing propaganda for hyping up alleged forced conversion of Hindu girls.
A general secretary of the Saudi chapter of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, Venghat arrived in Kozhikode, Kerala, to bring together people across different spectrums to raise the money.
“There are Hindus and Muslims and members of all political parties, including the BJP, in the committee formed to save Raheem’s life,” Mr Venghat said, referring to prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Expressing her gratitude to the people, Rahim’s mother told reporters that “the communal harmony among people here helped collect such a huge amount so quickly”.
“I had no hope as we have no means to raise Rs340m. But somehow it was all made possible,” she added. “I thank everyone.”
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to Facebook and said: “Keralites across the world have united to mobilise Rs 34 crore (£3.2m) for the release of Abdul Rahim, who is facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia.”
“To save a life, to wipe the tears of a family, Kerala has created a noble example of love. It is a declaration that Kerala is a fortress of brotherhood, which communalism cannot destroy.”
