Sri Lanka Presses Saudi Arabia to Spare Migrant Worker Facing Death Penalty Over Facebook Comment

Sri Lanka has launched an urgent diplomatic effort to save the life of a 24-year-old migrant worker who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment that a court deemed blasphemous against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Anojan Sivarasa, the eldest son of Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi, now faces execution after an appellate court in the kingdom upgraded his punishment from a prison term and heavy fine to the death penalty. The case has triggered outrage and anxiety across Sri Lanka, with political parties, religious leaders and civil society groups uniting in calls for clemency.

Speaking through tears, Yogalakshmi made a direct appeal for her son's life: "I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son. Please forgive him and send him back to us." Her words have become the emotional centrepiece of a campaign that now spans Sri Lanka's highest political and religious institutions.

The prosecution stems from a social media dispute that erupted after an incident during a Hindu pilgrimage in Sri Lanka. In late June, footage circulated widely online showing a young Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims, prompting heated religious arguments across social media platforms.

During that exchange, according to the account provided by the family, another user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity. Anojan responded with a comment in Tamil that insulted the Prophet Muhammad. He deleted the post almost immediately and uploaded an apology video, but the comment had already been screenshotted.

Those screenshots were sent to the company where Anojan worked in Saudi Arabia, and from there to Saudi authorities. He was arrested in July. His personal devices were seized and his social media accounts were deleted by Saudi officials. His brother Hamsidan Sivarasa said the matter only reached Saudi Arabia because individuals in Sri Lanka emailed his employer. "People in Saudi Arabia knew nothing about this matter," he told BBC Sinhala, adding that he did not wish to name those responsible.

Anojan was initially sentenced by the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court to five years in prison and a fine of three million Saudi riyals, equivalent to roughly $0.8m (£0.6m). An appeal seeking a reduction was rejected, according to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath. Then, on 17 September, the case took a far more severe turn when Saudi prosecutors filed an appeal asking that Anojan be prosecuted under Sharia law rather than the country's cybercrime legislation. The appellate court granted that request and imposed the death penalty.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is taking all available steps to assist Anojan. On 21 September, his family met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat. The president assured them that his government would spare no effort to secure a general pardon, and instructed diplomatic channels to engage Saudi authorities directly.

The case has also drawn unusually broad religious support at home. Senior Buddhist leaders, including the Mahanayake Theros of the Ramanna Nikaya and the Amarapura Maha Nikaya, joined Hindu religious leaders in handing a memorandum to the Presidential Secretariat calling for urgent state intervention. The cross-faith mobilisation underlines how seriously the case is being viewed in Sri Lanka, where the treatment of migrant workers abroad is a sensitive national issue.

A four-member Sri Lankan legal delegation is travelling to Saudi Arabia this week to meet Anojan's local defence lawyers. Upul Kumarapperuma, a President's Counsel and member of the team, told BBC Sinhala that two law firms in the kingdom are handling the case. "We are going there to meet the lawyers from these two firms, discuss the case and plan what can be done next," he said.

Back in Sri Lanka, however, communication between Anojan and his family has completely broken down. Hamsidan said on 28 September that his brother had not called for two days. The family informed the embassy and asked officials to look into the matter and provide updates, but they are still waiting for a response. Saudi authorities have not published an official execution timeline, and it remains unclear when the sentence could be carried out. The kingdom has a record of carrying out executions without prior warning to families or foreign embassies, sometimes informing relatives only after the fact.

In Saudi prisons, inmates on death row typically lose access to personal mobile devices, with formal calls arranged strictly through prison authorities. The Sri Lankan government has instructed Anojan's family to refrain from making further public statements while diplomatic efforts continue.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly criticised Saudi Arabia for handing down severe sentences over online speech. In July 2023, Mohammed Al Ghamdi, a retired Saudi school teacher, was sentenced to death over comments posted on social media, according to the United Nations. Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, described the sentence at the time as "ludicrous", noting that Al Ghamdi had just ten followers across his two anonymous Twitter accounts and was accused of nothing more than expressing opinions online. That ruling was later overturned and replaced with a 30-year prison term, according to ALQST, an independent non-governmental organisation defending human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Anojan's case highlights the vulnerability of the more than ten million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, many of whom lack the legal protections or resources to navigate a justice system in which blasphemy and cybercrime charges can carry the most severe consequences. For his family in Sri Lanka, the wait continues without any confirmed news of his condition, while diplomats, lawyers and religious leaders press for a pardon that could still save his life.