RIYADH, 6 April 2006 — Abdul Lateef Naushad, 34, who was languishing in a Dammam jail for partially blinding a Saudi national, has been released following a royal pardon.
Naushad, according to Indian Ambassador M.O.H. Farook, was taken directly from the jail to the Dammam airport to board a Gulf Air flight bound for the southern Indian city of Trivandrum last night.
Naushad, who hails from Kerala, was jailed for damaging the eye of the Saudi national during a scuffle at a petrol pump where the former was employed. The incident took place in April 2003. The Saudi man reportedly lost sight in one eye several weeks later. Naushad was sentenced by a court to have one of his eyes gouged out.
The victim, Naif Al-Otaibi, a computer professional, pardoned Naushad making the granting of clemency possible following appeals by the Indian government. The worker’s wife and mother petitioned Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah during the king’s visit to India earlier this year.
Naushad’s wife and their two children — a five-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter — live in Kerala.
Speaking to Arab News from New Delhi on telephone, Saleh Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, Saudi ambassador to India, congratulated Naushad and his family members.
“It is evident from the release of this Indian worker that the Kingdom’s leadership took care of its guest workers,” said Al-Ghamdi. “The Saudi government makes every effort to make the stay of expatriate workers problem-free and pleasant. The government is committed to ensure justice for all citizens and foreign workers alike.”
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest employers of migrant workers. Approximately one-third of the Kingdom’s population and 70 percent of the labor force are foreigners, primarily from Asia. Indians, whose number currently exceeds 1.5 million, represent a very substantial percent of foreign work force.
Naushad’s plight moved Saudi and Indian officials to come forward to help. Last year, in a telephone call from his jail cell in Dammam, Naushad sought the help of the media to plead his case with the authorities in India. Following the telephone call, a group of reporters talked to his wife and children and raised the issue in the media.
Indian workers in the Kingdom yesterday rejoiced over the release of their compatriot. In Kerala, Naushad’s wife expressed her relief that her three-year ordeal has ended and she was looking eagerly forward for the family reunion.
“I thank Allah first. Everybody was too kind to us and I have gratitude for all of them,” she said.
Naushad arrived in the Kingdom in 1995 to work as a gas-station assistant.
