Cleaner mocked for staring longingly at jewellery gets the last laugh

A Bangladeshi cleaner in Saudi Arabia was pictured staring longingly at a jewellery shop’s gold display in the country’s capital of Riyadh last weekend.

A photo of the 65-year-old was posted on Instagram with the caption ‘This man deserves to only look at rubbish’.

There have been a number of cases over the years in the Gulf countries relating to the mistreatment of South Asian workers.

The cruel post caught the attention of social media philanthropist Abdullah al-Qahtani, who subsequently launched a campaign to find the man, on his Twitter account Ensaniyat (humanitarianism).

After thousands of retweets, and with the image circulating the internet, it wasn’t long before people were able to piece together where the photograph was taken – based on the glass reflection.

The cleaner has been identified as Nazer al-Islam Abdul Karim:

Qahtani told CNN:

Three hours [after] my tweet, which was shared over 6,000 times, we found him.

When people on Twitter saw the second photo of him, they asked how they could get in touch.

And then, they sent gifts to him.

He was able to choose his own gold set from the same jewellery shop, and he also received donations of cash, iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, as well as return tickets home.

A rice company even donated rice bags.

Abdul Karim said:

I was just doing my job as a cleaner in the municipality and found myself in front of the gold shop. I am very happy about the gifts and very thankful.

Well played, humanity. Well played.

More: This pub in Manchester will open on Christmas day to feed the homeless

More: Racists are losing it over 'black Santa' - forgetting some crucial pieces of information