RIYADH: Two Keralite Indian inmates who completed their prison terms for petty crimes still languish in jail cells of Al-Hair Prison in Riyadh because they don’t have plane tickets to go home, said R. Muraleedharan, chief of the Federation of Kerala Associations in Saudi Arabia (FOKASA), here on Sunday.
Muraleedharan said that Mohammed Yousuf Peez and M. Thajudeen had appealed to Indian government agencies, NGOs and community leaders to arrange one-way air tickets for them.
“When the tickets will be handed over to the prison officials, Yousuf and Thajudeen will be immediately sent back to India," said the FOKASA chief, adding that these two workers have no relatives or friends working in the Kingdom.
“Hence, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to arrange air tickets and travel early to reunite with their families."
The Indian Embassy has been giving air tickets to needy workers, but not to those whom Saudi courts have convicted.
The embassy’s welfare fund has the provision to lend all possible support to Indian workers including women workers, if they are not convicted for offenses in the Kingdom. Both these workers, according to sources, have faced trail for some petty crimes and later sentenced for one-year prison.
Yousuf comes from a township of Areekode in Malappuram, while Thajudeen hails from Anchal village of Kollam in Kerala.
Asked about the nature of crime committed by these workers, Muraleedharan refused to divulge details. He, however, said that they did not commit any "major offense.”
He said, “The Saudi prison officials would only accept tickets from Saudi Arabian Airlines and hence we cannot approach Indian carriers like Air India or Jet Airways in this case.”
