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Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia quashed the death sentence of Anojan Sivarasa, a 24-year-old Tamil migrant worker arrested in July 2026 over a Facebook comment.
On September 17, an appellate court increased his sentence from five years’ imprisonment and a fine of approximately $800,000 to death for blasphemy under Sharia law. A special legal delegation from Sri Lanka worked on the Supreme Court appeal and bore the legal expenses his family incurred, Hemachandra said.
In September, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry announced that its officials were working diplomatically with Saudi officials, monitoring the case, and were in touch with Sivarasa’s family. Last week, the Sri Lankan ambassador visited Sivarasa in Dammam Central Prison to provide assurances about his legal aid and confirm that he was in good health.
Saudi Arabia is the only country still carrying out executions by decapitation by sword. Of the 356 people Saudi Arabia executed last year, 188 were foreign nationals. In the past, Saudi officials have notified families or foreign embassies only after the fact. Saudi Arabia is a party to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Article 36(b) requires receiving states to inform detained foreign nationals of their rights to consular assistance and to notify the detainee’s state. Article 36(c) grants consular officers the right to communicate with and visit detained nationals and to arrange legal representation.
Sivarasa, while working in Saudi Arabia, responded to a heated religious argument that took place in the comment section of a video depicting a young Muslim man kicking a dog. During the exchange, Sivarasa posted a comment stating that he would have killed the Prophet Muhammad. The comment came to the attention of his employer and later Saudi authorities. The incident drew attention across Sri Lanka, as well as from Hindu and Buddhist religious leaders.
“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 Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Morayef argued that the sentence violated the right to freedom of expression and constituted an arbitrary deprivation of life prohibited under international law. That principle is reflected in Article 5 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights.
The post Sri Lanka says Saudi Supreme Court overturned migrant worker death sentence appeared first on JURIST - News.
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On September 17, an appellate court increased his sentence from five years’ imprisonment and a fine of approximately $800,000 to death for blasphemy under Sharia law. A special legal delegation from Sri Lanka worked on the Supreme Court appeal and bore the legal expenses his family incurred, Hemachandra said.
In September, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry announced that its officials were working diplomatically with Saudi officials, monitoring the case, and were in touch with Sivarasa’s family. Last week, the Sri Lankan ambassador visited Sivarasa in Dammam Central Prison to provide assurances about his legal aid and confirm that he was in good health.
Saudi Arabia is the only country still carrying out executions by decapitation by sword. Of the 356 people Saudi Arabia executed last year, 188 were foreign nationals. In the past, Saudi officials have notified families or foreign embassies only after the fact. Saudi Arabia is a party to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Article 36(b) requires receiving states to inform detained foreign nationals of their rights to consular assistance and to notify the detainee’s state. Article 36(c) grants consular officers the right to communicate with and visit detained nationals and to arrange legal representation.
Sivarasa, while working in Saudi Arabia, responded to a heated religious argument that took place in the comment section of a video depicting a young Muslim man kicking a dog. During the exchange, Sivarasa posted a comment stating that he would have killed the Prophet Muhammad. The comment came to the attention of his employer and later Saudi authorities. The incident drew attention across Sri Lanka, as well as from Hindu and Buddhist religious leaders.
“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 Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Morayef argued that the sentence violated the right to freedom of expression and constituted an arbitrary deprivation of life prohibited under international law. That principle is reflected in Article 5 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights.
The post Sri Lanka says Saudi Supreme Court overturned migrant worker death sentence appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.