Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

More than 3000 Indian workers languish in Saudi jails

— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

Tale of woes: Family members of Naina Mohamed in Tirunelveli narrating the ordeals of their breadwinner now lodged in jail at Riyadh.

TIRUNELVELI: An eerie silence has enveloped the dingy tiled house on the fifth street of Rahmaniah Nagar in Kadayanallur as the 45-year old breadwinner of the family Naina Mohamed has been jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah after he was found guilty of not having valid immigration documents and subsequent overstaying in the oil-rich desert kingdom.

When Mr.Mohamed, father of five including four girls, went to the northwest coastal city of Tabouk to work in a dairy farm, he was not given the assured salary. After 8 years of tireless battle, he could get the travel documents including his passport from his boss,and returned to Kadayanallur.

Since he could not find any suitable job in the native place, Mr.Mohamed went to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh two years ago, where he was assigned the job of taking the camels to the desert. However, peptic ulcer and consequent severe stomach pain never allowed him to work in Riyadh. When he wanted to leave the country, his boss refused to return his passport, forcing him to flee for the holy city of Mecca. However, he was intercepted midway by the police, detained for not carrying valid travel documents and work permit and lodged in one of the prisons in Saudi Arabia. On entering the prison, Mr.Mohamed could meet nearly 300 Tamils there and learn that more than 3,000 Indian workers, having no criminal background, were languishing in the prisons across Saudi Arabia for similar offence. As his wife N. Mariam here came to know that her husband had been jailed, the poor lady’s life suddenly plunged into utter darkness.

“I was told that he has been lodged in a small dormitory along with nearly 700 prisoners without any basic facility and has to use the water in the toilet for drinking purpose. All of them are given meal once a day and tortured. Hence the State and Central Governments should do something to save my husband and others,” requested Ms. Mariam.

Indian Union Muslim League Tirunelveli City district secretary Milleth Ismail, who has taken the initiative to ensure the release of the Indian prisoners in Saudi Arabia, is getting frequent phone calls from victims’ relatives in Royapuram, Perambur in Chennai, Perambalur, Athiramapattinam, Dharmapuri, Kooththankudi, Sankarankovil, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Panrutti and Waynad in Kerala for the past few days urging him to take immediate steps to free the Indians in distress.

“We’ll submit a memorandum to the District Collector and others in State and Central Governments on Friday, appealing for an early intervention so that the breadwinners of hundreds of families can be saved,” Mr. Milleth Ismail said.

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