The 65-year-old Bangladeshi national is a worker of Riyadh Municipality. He was mocked by an Instagram user who shared Karim's photo with the caption: "This man deserves to only look at rubbish."
Abdullah Al-Qahtani - whose Twitter account is named 'Ensaneyat', meaning 'humanitarian' in Arabic - tweeted about Karim to find him; the tweet was shared more than 6,500 times.
Eventually, Twitter users identified the cleaner's location by analysing the reflection of the shop window in the photo.
Karim's monthly salary is $187 (700 Saudi Riyal). He confirmed that he was not aware of the photo being taken.
Al-Qahtani has also received bags of rice, honey, return tickets to Bangladesh and two mobile phones - an iPhone 7 and a Samsung Galaxy - for Karim.
Netizens are still sending gifts for Karim; one user even wants to give him $530 (2,000 Riyal).
Al-Qahtani told CNN that he was “impressed by the efforts made to locate the cleaner and by the kindness and generosity of those who reached out to help him”.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
