For the Machilakathu family in Feroke, near Kerala’s Kozhikode, Eid 2026 became a day of relief and reunion as their son returned home after languishing in a Saudi prison for two decades, narrowly escaping the gallows.
Abdul Rahim, in jail since December 2006 in connection with the death of a teenager under his care, arrived home on Thursday morning on an exit visa from Saudi Arabia. As he stepped out of Kozhikode airport, hundreds waited near his ancestral house to welcome him.
For many elders, Rahim was a faded memory; for the youngsters, he was an icon whose story had moved Keralites across the world, sparking an extraordinary crowdfunding campaign that secured his release.
At home, Rahim thanked all those who gave him a second lease of life. “I thank all Keralites across the world who made my release a reality,” he said.
Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, Rahim drove an autorickshaw and a school bus in Kerala. The youngest of 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.
Rahim, then 26, was arrested—just 28 days after arriving in Saudi Arabia, and 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. In April 2024, the victim’s family agreed to pardon him in exchange for blood money amounting to Rs 34 crore.
The amount—impossible for Rahim’s 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, it has been an ordeal for Rahim’s family. While father Muhammedkutty died six months after he was jailed, mother Fathima only met him once—in November 2024, after the pardon came through. Occasional video calls were the only relief. Until Thursday, when the Machilakathu family’s long wait finally ended.
