Nearly 20 years after he left his home in Kerala in search of work and landed on death row in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Rahim is finally on the verge of returning home — closing a chapter marked by fear, uncertainty, legal battles and an extraordinary public campaign.
Rahim, a native of Kozhikode district, has been lodged in a Saudi prison since December 2006 in connection with the death of a teenager under his care. Arrested less than a month after arriving in the Gulf country for work, the then 26-year-old was eventually sentenced to death by a Saudi court in 2011. The sentence was upheld by higher courts, leaving his family in Kerala to live for years under the shadow of a possible execution.
But in 2024, Rahim’s fate changed dramatically.
After prolonged negotiations, the victim’s family agreed to pardon him in exchange for blood money amounting to Rs 34 crore. The amount — impossible for Rahim’s impoverished family to raise on its own — was collected through a massive crowdfunding effort backed by Malayalis across the world. Contributions poured in from ordinary workers, expatriates, social organisations and public figures, transforming the campaign into one of Kerala’s largest community-led fundraising efforts.
With the victim’s family accepting the compensation, the death sentence was set aside. Saudi authorities, however, ordered that Rahim complete a 20-year jail term, which, according to the Arabic calendar followed in the case, concluded on May 20 this year.
Back in Kozhikode, the wait for his return has become deeply emotional for the family.
“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.”
Those involved in the campaign say the final procedural steps for Rahim’s release are now underway.
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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 secure his release at the earliest.
“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.
Rahim’s story began far from the legal and diplomatic efforts that would later define his life. Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, he drove an autorickshaw and a school bus in Kerala to support his family. The youngest among six siblings, he travelled to Riyadh on November 28, 2006, after securing a job as a driver.
According to accounts presented during the case, Rahim had also been assigned to assist his employer’s 17-year-old son, who was paralysed and dependent on a breathing apparatus. On December 24, 2006, while Rahim was driving with the teenager seated in the back, the breathing support device reportedly became detached, leading to the boy’s death.
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Rahim was arrested within days — just 28 days after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
What followed was a long legal battle that drew the attention of Kerala’s expatriate community. Even after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, campaigners continued efforts to negotiate with the victim’s family.
A breakthrough came in October 2022, when the family agreed to mediation. A year later, they consented to accept blood money. Mediators reportedly set April 16, 2024, as the final deadline to save Rahim from execution.
With time running out and the family unable to raise such a large amount, residents of Feroke in Kozhikode formed an action committee in March 2024. A crowdfunding platform — “Save Abdul Rahim” — was launched, and the appeal spread rapidly across social media and expatriate networks.
Within weeks, the campaign had collected Rs 34 crore.
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Among those who publicly backed the effort was businessman Boby Chemmanur, who undertook a journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to raise funds and awareness for the campaign.
Now, after nearly two decades in prison, Rahim’s family is waiting for what once seemed impossible: his journey home.
