A Sri Lankan family has made a desperate plea for mercy after a 24-year-old migrant worker was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment deemed blasphemous against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
‘I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son. Please forgive him and send him back to us,’ Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi said through tears, appealing for the life of her eldest son, Anojan Sivarasa.
The case has triggered widespread concern in Sri Lanka, with civil society groups submitting petitions and political parties and government agencies coordinating diplomatic efforts to seek clemency.
Facebook comment leads to arrest
Anojan was prosecuted following an online dispute that emerged after an incident during a Hindu pilgrimage in Sri Lanka.
In late June, footage of a young Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims circulated widely on social media, triggering religious arguments online.
During the exchange, a user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity. Anojan responded in Tamil with an insult directed at the Prophet Muhammad.
He later deleted the comment and posted an apology video, but the original comment was captured in a screenshot and brought to the attention of his employer and Saudi authorities.
Anojan was arrested in July. His personal devices were subsequently seized, while his social media accounts were deleted by Saudi officials.
‘People in Saudi Arabia knew nothing about this matter. It was individuals in Sri Lanka who sent emails to the company where my brother worked. I do not even wish to mention who those people are,’ Anojan’s brother, Hamsidan Sivarasa, told BBC Sinhala.
According to Hamsidan, the company employing Anojan notified Saudi authorities, who subsequently registered a case against him.
Sentence escalated to death penalty
Anojan was initially sentenced by the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court to five years in prison and fined 3 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to about US$800,000 or £600,000.
An appeal submitted on his behalf seeking a reduction in the sentence was rejected, according to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.
The case took a dramatic turn on September 17 when Saudi prosecutors appealed for Anojan to be prosecuted under Sharia law rather than the country’s cybercrime legislation.
The appellate court granted the request and increased his sentence to death.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it is taking all available steps to assist Anojan.
His family met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat on September 21. The president assured them that the government would make every effort to obtain a general pardon and instructed diplomatic channels to engage with Saudi authorities.
However, the family has received no update on Anojan’s condition since September 28. The Sri Lankan government has also instructed the family not to make further public statements while diplomatic efforts are under way.
Saudi authorities have not announced an official execution timeline, and it remains unclear when the sentence could be carried out.
Religious leaders and lawyers seek intervention
The case has drawn support across religious communities in Sri Lanka.
Senior Buddhist leaders from the Ramanna Nikaya and Amarapura Maha Nikaya, together with Hindu religious leaders, submitted a memorandum to the Presidential Secretariat calling for urgent state intervention.
A four-member Sri Lankan legal delegation is also travelling to Saudi Arabia this week to meet Anojan’s local defence lawyers.
‘There are two law firms in Saudi Arabia handling Anojan’s case. We are going there to meet the lawyers from these two firms, discuss the case and plan what can be done next,’ said Upul Kumarapperuma, President’s Counsel and a member of the delegation, according to BBC Sinhala.
Communication between Anojan and his family has meanwhile stopped completely.
‘My brother hasn’t called for two days,’ Hamsidan said on September 28. ‘We informed the embassy and asked officials to look into the matter and update us. They said they would check. We are still waiting, as we have not yet received a response.’
In Saudi prisons, inmates on death row typically lose access to personal mobile devices, while formal calls are strictly facilitated through prison authorities.
Human rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about severe sentences imposed over online speech in Saudi Arabia.
In July 2023, Mohammed Al Ghamdi, a retired Saudi school teacher, was sentenced to death over comments posted on several social media platforms, according to the United Nations.
Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, criticised the sentence at the time, describing it as disproportionate to the alleged offence.
Al Ghamdi’s death sentence was later overturned and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to ALQST, an independent non-governmental organisation defending and promoting human rights in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has more than 10 million foreign workers, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Rights groups have highlighted the particular vulnerabilities faced by low-wage migrant workers in the Saudi legal system, including language barriers and inadequate access to legal representation.
Executions for blasphemy are relatively rare compared with death sentences for drug offences or murder handed down by Saudi courts.
