Sri Lankan ambassador visits foreign worker sentenced to death for Facebook post in Saudi Arabia

Sri Lanka's ambassador to Saudi Arabia visited a migrant worker in prison who was put on death row for insulting Prophet Muhammad over a Facebook post.Omar Lebbe Ameer Ajwad visited Anojan Sivarasa at the Dammam Central Prison, located 400km east of Riyadh, on 8 October to inquire about his well-being after he was assaulted by his cellmate last week.Anojan, 24, a migrant worker from Kalmunai in Sri Lanka's eastern province, was sentenced to death in September for posting the comment on Prophet Muhammad.Colombo has appealed to Saudi Arabia's apex court seeking clemency for Anojan.Mr Ajwad listened to Anojan’s needs and concerns and reaffirmed the embassy’s commitment to providing consular and legal assistance, the Sri Lankan embassy in Riyadh said.Mr Ajwad said Anojan was in good health and that prison authorities were attending to his well-being. The ambassador visited Anojan a day after the Sri Lankan foreign minister said he was shifted to another cell at the prison after suffering bruises from an altercation with a fellow inmate.Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, a Sri Lankan MP from Batticaloa City, claimed Anojan's family was informed that their son was stabbed in the head and faces danger.Foreign minister Vijitha Herath said embassy staff were not allowed to meet Anojan on 6 October, and prison authorities claimed he suffered only "scratches and fingernail injuries to his face".However, prison authorities said "no knife, sharp instrument or other weapon had been used", according to Mr Herath.Anojan's family previously told the BBC that they had not received any update about their son since 28 September.A four-member legal team from Sri Lanka filed an appeal against the death sentence with the supreme court of Saudi Arabia through a local law firm on Sunday, Colombo said.Sri Lankan government has assured his family that Colombo would spare no effort to obtain a pardon after meeting president Anura Kumara Dissanayake on 21 September. It offered to cover the legal fees as well.Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake gives a sapling to a Vietnamese Buddhist monk in Colombo on 18 April 2026 (AFP/Getty)Anojan had been in Saudi Arabia for less than a year when he was arrested on 2 July. His ordeal began with an online debate caused by a viral video showing a man kicking a stray dog that had accompanied some Hindu pilgrims.He made remarks insulting Prophet Muhammad in response to a derogatory comment about a Hindu deity. Anojan promptly deleted his Facebook post and posted an apology video, but screenshots were sent to his employer and passed on to Saudi authorities.The Al-Ahsa Criminal Court initially sentenced him to five years in prison and fined him 3m Saudi riyals, about £600,000, under the country's cybercrime law.The court also rejected an appeal filed on his behalf to reduce the sentence.But on 17 September, prosecutors filed their own appeal for Anojan to be tried under Sharia law. The court granted their request, leading to Anojan being handed the death penalty for blasphemy.Six lawmakers from minority Tamil-speaking political parties have written to Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud seeking clemency for Anojan, saying it “was not his character to have intentionally committed it expecting to disrespect or offend Islam".Human Rights organisation Amnesty International has called on Saudi authorities to release him "immediately and unconditionally".“The case raises alarming concerns about the application of the death penalty and the arbitrariness of the Saudi criminal justice system, with his initial sentence of five years transformed into a death sentence less than two months later on appeal," said regional director Heba Morayef."Anojan Sivarasa was exercising his right to freedom of expression and his execution would amount to arbitrary deprivation of life," she added.In the past, human rights organisations have repeatedly expressed concern over the harsh sentences imposed for online speech in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the world’s top executioners, according to Amnesty International.Saudi Arabia carried out at least 356 executions in 2025, the highest on record and up from 345 in 2024.