Mangalore, September 6: Three youths from Dakshina Kannada district are languishing in a Jeddah jail for the past seven years, according to reports that have come to light recently.
The three youths in the age group of 33 and 34 are spending days behind the bars after being slapped with fines by a local court in Jeddah. The trio have not been able to pay up due to their economic conditions and with nobody to take up their cause legally they have been confined to the four walls of the jail in a distant land.
The three who have been condemned to imprisonment are Fairoz Abdul Rahman D Mohammed (34) from Kotepura Ullal, Abdul Rafeeq (33) from Bajpe and Mohammed Nasir from Bunder (33).
Fairoz, Mohammad Nasir, Rafeeq Bajpe
The trio had flown to Saudi Arabia in search of employment. After the initial difficult days they managed to find either a small job or took up a minor business and stayed together in a rented room. Unfortunately, the room they hired had been previously occupied by a group that was involved in illegal telephone service network, generally known as Hundi.
The gang had vacated after their racket was busted and were about to be nabbed by the local police. However, the three Mangalore youth were not aware of the antecedents of the previous occupiers and hired the same room. Within few days, the local police raided the room following a complaint by the Saudi telecom authorities. The trio were taken away by the police and were lodged in a prison in Jeddah.
The trio were behind bars without any trial for a couple of years. When the trial finally began, they could not defend themselves due to lack of legal knowledge and unavailability of any legal help. After a prolonged hearing, the court slapped heavy fines on the trio. Since they could not pay the massive fine, they had to remain behind the bars for years.
The family members of the trio have already approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna seeking their release. The parents of the trio are cursing their fate as their sons had been condemned to ignominy for no fault of theirs. Despite sustained efforts they have not been able to secure any concrete assurance about their release.
“We had come here with hopes and aspirations of a better tomorrow. It was the night of March 19-20, 2004 which changed our destiny for good. The Saudi police raided our room and rounded up all of us. They said that we were part of a Hundi call racked. We pleaded innocence. But they would not agree. Language was also a barrier. They made us to sign on some documents written in Arabic. They asked us to give information about the people involved in in the racket. They also assured us that we would be released once they got the real culprits,” says Fairoz, in one of the letters he had written to his parents.
“We were detained at a police station for nearly 45 days for interrogation. Subsequently we were taken to a court in Jeddah and put behind bars. The trial began after three years. The judge would not listen to our pleas. Finally the judge his verdict and declared all of us guilty. We were asked to pay a fine of 10,000 Saudi Riyal. In addition to that we were also ordered to pay 3 million Riyal as damages to the Saudi telecom. This would work out to nearly one crore Indian rupees for each one of us,” he says.
“From where can we pool such a big amount? We came here with the hope of making a difference to our poverty stricken lives. We had no option but to appeal in a higher court. But unfortunately, the higher court upheld the lower court's verdict. We are condemned to the cells of this prison for the past seven and half years. We do not have anyone who can fight for our cause,” says Fairoz.
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