Nocturnal 
A 24-year-old Sri Lankan migrant worker has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment, despite deleting the post within minutes and posting a video apology.
Anojan Sivarasa was found guilty of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad by an appellate court in Saudi Arabia, as reported by the BBC. His case has triggered an urgent diplomatic push from Sri Lanka’s government, which is trying to save his life.
His mother, Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi, made an emotional appeal for her son, telling reporters through tears: “I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son. Please forgive him and send him back to us.”
How the row started
The case stems from an online argument that broke out in late June, after footage emerged of a young Muslim man kicking a dog as it followed Hindu pilgrims in Sri Lanka. The clip spread quickly and sparked religious arguments between social media users.
During the row, one user posted derogatory comments about a Hindu deity. Anojan, who was working in Saudi Arabia at the time, responded in Tamil with comments insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
He deleted the comment almost immediately and posted a video apologising for it. But a screenshot had already been taken, and it was passed on to his employer and to Saudi officials, according to the BBC.
His brother, Hamsidan Sivarasa, told BBC Sinhala that people in Saudi Arabia “knew nothing about this matter” until individuals in Sri Lanka emailed the company Anojan worked for. “I do not even wish to mention who those people are,” he said.
Anojan was arrested in July. His phone and other devices were seized, and his social media accounts were deleted by Saudi officials.
From a prison sentence to the death penalty
Anojan was initially sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of three million Saudi riyals – around £0.6m – by the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court under the kingdom’s cybercrime legislation. An appeal to reduce that sentence was rejected, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath confirmed.
The case escalated sharply on 17 September, when Saudi prosecutors lodged a fresh appeal arguing Anojan should instead be tried under Sharia law. The appellate court agreed, and his sentence was raised to the death penalty.
News of the ruling has caused alarm in Sri Lanka, where civil society groups have launched petitions and several political parties have joined calls for clemency. Government bodies are co-ordinating diplomatic efforts aimed at securing his release, though his family say they’ve had no update on his condition since 28 September. Sri Lanka’s government has asked the family not to make further public statements while those negotiations continue.
Why it matters
Saudi Arabia has not published an execution timeline for Anojan, and it remains unclear if or when the sentence could be carried out. The kingdom has a well-documented history of executing prisoners with little or no warning, often only informing relatives – or foreign governments – after the fact.
That makes the diplomatic window to intervene both urgent and uncertain. Sri Lanka relies heavily on remittances from hundreds of thousands of its citizens working across the Gulf, and cases like this raise fresh questions about the legal protections available to migrant workers caught up in disputes that began online, far from where they work.
For now, Anojan remains in Saudi custody as his family and the Sri Lankan government continue to press for his death sentence to be overturned.
