Malappuram: A man from Uttar Pradesh, who is on death row in Saudi Arabia, can look forward to a new life after the mother of his roommate he had killed pardoned him.

“Allah has called my son early. That is his fate. (Taking) Another life will not bring back my child,” Ayesha Beevi on May 30 told Razia, wife of Muharam Ali, who killed her son Mohammed Asif six years ago.

Razia, a native of Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh, traveled some 2,600 km south to Otapalam in Kerala’s Palakkad district to meet Asif’s family members and request his mother Beevi to pardon her husband.

Beevi, 61, embraced a sobbing Razia, who had fallen at her feet, before signing the pardon letter.

“In this holy month of Ramzan, I pardon him unconditionally,” Beevi said as she signed the letter in the presence of Sadiq Ali, son of Indian Union of Muslim League leader Panakkad Hyder Ali Thangal.

Ali worked at a petrol station in Al-Hassa of Saudi Arabia and Asif was his supervisor. They were friends and shared a room. But one night, Ali killed Asif by slitting his throat in his sleep. Ali was arrested and jailed.

In 2017, a Saudi Arabia court sentenced Ali to death. The Al-Hassa chapter of Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, a voluntary organization, stepped in to get justice for Asif’s family on learning that he was mentally disturbed.

A few years later, Ali started showing signs of mental instability, KMCC former secretary Kunhalassan Kutty told PTI. “The two were working together, staying together and there was no enmity between them,” Kutty said, adding that the accused had not escaped after the crime and slept in the room.

Seeing his mental state, the Saudi police urged the KMCC to mediate to help Ali, who has two daughters of marriageable age and a young son. Following discussions, Asif’s mother and relatives agreed to pardon the accused, Kutty said.

“No blood money was demanded. Asif’s family does not even have a house. But they were magnanimous enough to pardon Muharam Ali,” Kutty said. On May 30, Razia and her relatives met Asif’s mother and other relatives and sought their pardon.

The pardon letter was sent to Dammam on May 31 to submit in court as soon as possible, Kutty said.

(Source: PTI and Malayala Manorama)