Saudi Arabia’s appellate court raised the sentence in the Anojan Sivarasa Facebook comment case to death after a Facebook response in Tamil led to a blasphemy conviction. The 24-year-old Sri Lankan migrant worker had first been given five years in prison and a fine of 3m Saudi riyals.
That decision leaves his family waiting for the next move from Saudi authorities. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is taking all available steps to help him, while the family says it has had no updates on his condition since 28 September.
Saudi Arabia appellate court
The case grew out of an online dispute after footage of a young Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims circulated widely on social media in late June. During the exchange, a user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity. Anojan Sivarasa then posted a response in Tamil insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Sivarasa deleted the comment and posted an apology video before his arrest in July. His personal devices were then seized, and Saudi officials deleted his social media accounts. The company employing Sivarasa notified the authorities in Saudi Arabia.
Sharia law and cybercrime legislation
The Al-Ahsa Criminal Court initially sentenced Sivarasa to five years in prison and a fine of 3m Saudi riyals, about $0.8m or £0.6m. An appeal seeking to reduce the sentence was rejected before 17 September.
On 17 September, Saudi prosecutors filed an appeal for Sivarasa to be prosecuted under Sharia law instead of the country's cybercrime legislation. The appellate court granted that request and increased the sentence to death. That shift changed the legal basis of the case from an online-offense framework to a capital case.
Sri Lanka and Presidential Secretariat
The case has prompted widespread concern and civil society petitions in Sri Lanka. On 21 September, the family met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat, and he said the government would spare no effort to obtain a general pardon for him.
Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi made a tearful plea: “I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son. Please forgive him and send him back to us.” Hamsidan Sivarasa also told Sinhala: “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,”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sri Lanka says it is taking all available steps to assist Sivarasa. Saudi authorities have not published an official execution timeline, so the next decision now sits with the Saudi system that raised the sentence in the first place.
