In Saudi Arabia For Haj, Bangladesh Man Arrested For ‘Begging’. Reports Say He Is An Ex-Robber
Matiar Rahman was released after Bangladesh Hajj Mission in Saudi Arabia signed an undertaking. Agency that took him to Madina served show cause notice as incident spoils image of country.
The police in Saudi Arabia detained a Haj pilgrim from Bangladesh last week after they found him begging in Madina. The man identified as Matiar Rahman was released after the Bangladesh Hajj Mission in Saudi Arabia signed an undertaking, according to reports in Bangladesh media, quoting the country’s religious affairs ministry.
Begging is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Matiar was reportedly arrested on June 22, and the Bangladesh Hajj Mission got him released the same day. The news of the arrest of the disabled man — he doesn’t have hands — went viral on social media.
The Meherpur resident had gone to the Hajj through Dhansiri Travel Air Service, and the religious affairs ministry has sent a show cause notice to the agency, saying the incident “seriously tarnished” the image of Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia, The Daily Star reported on July 26.
"Matiar Rahman was begging on the street, pretending that his money had been snatched. Dhansiri Travel Air Service has not arranged accommodation for this pilgrim. At the same time, there was no muallim to guide this pilgrim," the ministry was quoted as saying in the show cause notice.
Interesting details, meanwhile, have come out in the Bangladesh media about the man.
Who Is Matiar Rahman?
Matiar lives in Sindurkouta village of Meherpur, and is locally known as “Montu Dakaat”, according to a Dhaka Tribune report. ‘Dakaat’ is the Bengali word for ‘robber’. He was reportedly part of a robbers’ gang once but left that life after losing his hands.
The father of four, however, is a wealthy man, his older brother Atiar Rahman told The Daily Star. According to the report, Matiar has a house in Sindurkouta, where he owns multiple plots of land.
Another startling revelation is an allegation by local villagers that he is in the habit of begging, and that he earns a lot doing this as he travels abroad especially for the purpose.
Matiar often travels to Saudi Arabia, and has also been to India in the past to beg, the reports said.
Mumtaz Khatun, Matiar’s wife, told The Daily Star that he has so far performed Haj at least four times.
The report also said the former robber has at least two police cases registered against him.
While the locals claim he gave up robbery in 2006 after losing his hands, the two police cases against him are from 2010 and 2012. The police told The Daily Star that Matiar was booked on charges of rioting (2010) and theft of electric transformers (2012), and that they are investigating the cases.
While the Daily Star report said he lost both his hands when a bomb he was making expoded, the Dhaka Tribune said his wrists had to be amputated after his fingers suffered severe injuries following a “mass beating”.
Quoting local residents, both reports said Matiar took to begging in different countries after he lost his hands, and that he owns several bighas of farm land with the money he made abroad.
Besides Saudi Arabia and India, Matiar has reportedly travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan also to beg.
“I don’t know what my husband does after going to Saudi Arabia. But he bought 10 bigha land from the money he brought from the country so far,” Mumtaz told Dhaka Tribune.
“I will ask him not to go to Saudi Arabia again after he comes back home. We have to marry off our children, and people in the village are hating us (after his arrest). He should not have done such a shameful thing (begging),” she added.
The local residents said they knew Matiar as a simple man, who often travelled to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, but they would have never known about this side of him had he not been arrested this time.
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