NRI businessman Siddeek Ahmed has kept his word: Kalacheri Mathew, a construction worker languishing in a Saudi Arabian jail for the last six months, will be free and return here on February 10.
Mathew is the first Malayali to benefit from the “Swapna Safalyam” sche-me devised by the state government, with the support of Mr Ahmed, to secure the release of those Malayalis who are in Saudi jails for minor procedural lapses.
Mr Ahmed handed over a blown-up replica of Mathew’s return ticket to Kerala CM Oommen Chandy here Wednesday. The original will be received at the Riyadh office of ITL, Mr Ahmed’s travel management firm, any time now. It was on December 30 last, during the CM’s interaction with non-resident Keralites, that Mr Ahmed made the offer to sponsor the return tickets of Malayalis freed from Saudi jails. Mr Ahmed is CMD of the Eram-ITL group of companies.
According to official estimates, over 1,400 Indians are languishing in Saudi jails, of which nearly 800 are Malayalis. Mathew, who had run away from his sponsor, was jailed for not possessing a passport. “There are a number of people like Mathew who are forced to abandon their passports and flee their sponsors,” Mr Ahmed said.
Mr Ahmed said advisory committees would be formed in Jeddah, Riyadh and Damam, which will have Non-Resident Keral-ites’ Affairs (Norka) department officials, social workers and journalists as members, to identify prisoners who deserved release.
The CM had promised to rush Norka officials to Saudi Arabia in the first week of January to do the necessary paperwork and interact with Indian embassy officials.