A 24-year-old Sri Lankan migrant worker is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after an appellate court convicted him of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad over a Facebook comment, a case that has triggered widespread alarm in his home country and prompted coordinated diplomatic efforts to secure his release.
Anojan Sivarasa was arrested in July after authorities in the kingdom were alerted to a social media post he had made during a heated online exchange, according to reporting by BBC Sinhala. The case has since become a rallying point for religious leaders, civil society groups and political parties across Sri Lanka, all of whom are urging Riyadh to show clemency.
The prosecution stemmed from a dispute that began in late June, when footage circulated widely on social media showing a young Muslim man kicking a dog in the aftermath of a Hindu pilgrimage in Sri Lanka. The video ignited fierce religious arguments online, and during the exchange one user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity. Anojan responded in Tamil with a comment insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
He deleted the post almost immediately and uploaded an apology video, but the comment had already been screenshotted. According to his brother, Hamsidan Sivarasa, the images were emailed to Anojan's employer in Saudi Arabia by individuals based in Sri Lanka rather than by anyone in the kingdom. "People in Saudi Arabia knew nothing about this matter," Hamsidan told BBC Sinhala. The company then notified Saudi authorities, who opened a case against the young man.
Anojan's personal devices were seized and his social media accounts were deleted by Saudi officials. He 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 or £0.6m. An appeal seeking a reduction was rejected, according to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.
The case then took a dramatic turn on 17 September, when Saudi prosecutors filed an appeal arguing that Anojan should be prosecuted under Sharia law rather than the kingdom's cybercrime legislation. The appellate court granted the request and increased his sentence to death, a decision that has left his family devastated and his government scrambling for a diplomatic solution.
Speaking through tears, Anojan's mother, Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi, made a direct appeal for her eldest son's life. "I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son. Please forgive him and send him back to us," she said, according to BBC Sinhala. The family has had no word on his condition since 28 September, and Sri Lankan officials have asked them to refrain from making further public statements while talks with Saudi authorities continue.
In Saudi Arabia, those held on death row typically lose access to personal mobile phones, with calls permitted only through prison authorities. Human rights organisations have repeatedly voiced concern about severe punishments imposed for online speech in the kingdom, where executions have sometimes been carried out without advance warning to families or foreign embassies, with relatives informed only after the sentence has been carried out. Saudi officials have not published any execution timeline in Anojan's case, leaving his family in agonising uncertainty.
The case has drawn support from across Sri Lanka's religious and political spectrum. Senior Buddhist leaders, including the Mahanayake Theros of the Ramanna Nikaya and the Amarapura Maha Nikaya, joined Hindu religious figures in submitting a memorandum to the Presidential Secretariat calling for urgent state intervention. Multiple political parties and government bodies have also coordinated diplomatic efforts seeking clemency.
Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is taking every available step to assist Anojan. On 21 September, his family met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat, where he assured them his government would spare no effort to obtain a general pardon and had instructed diplomatic channels to engage Saudi authorities. A four-member Sri Lankan legal delegation is also travelling to Saudi Arabia this week to meet the two local law firms 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," Upul Kumarapperuma, a President's Counsel and member of the delegation, told BBC Sinhala.
The case echoes previous prosecutions in Saudi Arabia over social media activity. In July 2023, Mohammed Al Ghamdi, a retired Saudi school teacher, was sentenced to death over comments made on multiple platforms, according to the United Nations. Amnesty International's Philip Luther described the sentence as "ludicrous" at the time, noting that Al Ghamdi had only ten followers across his two anonymous Twitter accounts and was accused of nothing more than expressing opinions. That ruling was later overturned and replaced with a 30-year prison term, according to ALQST, an independent organisation advocating for human rights in Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom hosts more than ten million foreign workers, according to the source material, a vast labour force that supplies remittances to countries across South Asia. Anojan's plight has therefore resonated well beyond his family, raising questions among Sri Lankans about the protections available to citizens employed abroad and the risks they face when local laws criminalise online expression.
For now, his relatives can do little but wait for news. Hamsidan said on 28 September that his brother had not called for two days, and that although the family contacted the embassy and asked officials to investigate, they were told only that checks would be made. "We are still waiting, as we have not yet received a response," he said. With no confirmed timetable for the sentence and diplomatic efforts still under way, the coming weeks will determine whether Sri Lanka's appeals persuade Saudi authorities to grant mercy.
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