Everyone heaved a sigh of relief on October 13th, 2026, when Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court, on appeal, set aside the Sharia’h court death sentence handed to Anojan Sivarasa, a Sri Lankan Tamil, Hindu expatriate engineer over a Facebook comment. Anojan Sivarasa, a 24-year-old Sri Lankan citizen, originally comes from Narpittimunai, near Kalmunai in Amparai district in eastern Sri Lanka. He studied mechanical engineering at Uva Wellassa University and moved to Saudi Arabia in September 2025 to work as a technical engineer at a battery factory. His family says he had been planning to marry this year. His parents, Thambirasa Sivarasa and Yogalaxmy Sivarasa, along with his other family members and friends have led the campaign for his release.

Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra acknowledged this reprieve in a post on Facebook, where he graciously thanked the Saudi Arabian authorities and legal teams of both countries for their efforts to save Anojan’s life. We laud the Government of Sri Lanka for taking a courageous stand in persistent diplomatic pursuit and heroic legal actions in this case and being able to overturn the totally unjust death sentence given to one of the Sri Lankan citizens. The Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake had met Anojan's parents on 21 September and promised a formal appeal for a pardon to the Saudi King. The Sri Lankan foreign minister Vijitha Herath had earlier promised that the Sri Lankan government would cover all legal costs and reimburse the family. In a tweet, Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia to set aside the death sentence imposed on Sri Lankan national Anojan Sivarasa. He emphasized the value of patient diplomacy, respect for the legal processes of a friendly nation, and the tireless work of those who stood by a Sri Lankan citizen abroad. He expressed his sincere appreciation to the Government of Saudi Arabia for this outcome. While thanking the many Saudi Arabian and Sri Lankan diplomats, civil servants and legal teams for their dedicated efforts, he reiterated that his government will continue to extend all necessary support to Anojan and his family as the remaining legal processes conclude. No Sri Lankan who leaves Sri Lankan shores in search of a livelihood should ever feel that they stand alone, he assured. 

Anojan was initially arrested on 1st July 2026 after posting a comment in Tamil language on Facebook deemed insulting to the prophet Mohammad. He reportedly told the judge that he made the comment during a moment of anger, in response to derogatory comments made against a Hindu Deity by a Muslim person in Sri Lanka. He subsequently deleted it within five minutes and published an unconditional, public video apology expressing remorse. His Muslim detractors took a screen shot of comments in Tamil, translated it into Arabic and allegedly sent to Anojan’s employers in Saudi Arabia. Ostensibly, he was deliberately provoked and entrapped legally by these highly purposeful, probably premeditated actions of his online Muslim trolls from Sri Lanka. He was prosecuted swiftly and just weeks later, on 27 July, was sentenced to five years in prison and a SAR 3 million fine (around USD 800,000). Less than two months later, this was increased to a death sentence on appeal by the prosecutors on 17th September to a Sharia’h court. He was denied access to a lawyer from the moment of his arrest until his initial sentencing. While in prison, he was allegedly assaulted by other inmates per reports coming from Sri Lanka.

This case has raised alarming concerns about the doctrine of blasphemy, intentional provocation by adherents of Islam, entrapment and persecution, application of 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 by the prosecutors who deliberately bypassed the criminal courts and took the case to Sharia’h court. No one should be imprisoned, let alone face execution simply for expressing their views, even if these are deemed insulting or offensive. Anojan Sivarasa was merely exercising his right to freedom of expression, and his execution would have amounted to arbitrary deprivation of an innocent human life. The ICHRRF along with several other human rights organizations had demanded that Saudi authorities must immediately quash this death sentence and overturn his conviction.

Earlier, ICHRRF, A US based International Human Rights organization had called for immediate intervention by the United Nations, national governments, diplomatic channels, human rights organizations and the international community to prevent his execution and secure his immediate release. The ICHRRF is now calling on Saudi authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally given his charges stem entirely from his exercise of his right to freedom of expression. He is still languishing in Saudi prisons and faces serious risk of loss and injury to his person and life given the theocratic nature of Saudi state. Our objective is very clear. Anojan Sivarasa must now be protected from further physical harm in Saudi prison from other inmates, released immediately from incarceration, and safely reunited with his family in Sri Lanka. The onus for this squarely lies on the executive and judicial authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We cannot rest at the verdict overturning the death sentence because of opacity and theocratic nature of the Saudi state. 

No one has forgotten the case of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of the Saudi government who was assassinated on October 2, 2018, by a 15-member strong Saudi intelligence team inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye. His body was dismembered and dissolved in drums full of chemicals. Saudi officials initially denied any knowledge, then claimed he died in a rogue fistfight or an accidental drug overdose during a botched repatriation attempt. A declassified US intelligence report concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) personally approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. The Crown Prince denied ordering the killing. The US State Department granted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sovereign immunity from a civil lawsuit regarding the murder, citing his appointment as Saudi Arabia's prime minister. Türkiye tried several Saudi suspects in absentia before eventually transferring the trial jurisdiction to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia held closed-door trials for unnamed suspects, initially handing down death sentences that were later commuted to 20-year prison terms after Khashoggi's family granted a pardon. The US government instituted the "Khashoggi Ban" policy to restrict visas for individuals believed to be involved in extraterritorial threats or crackdowns against dissidents on behalf of foreign governments, applying restrictions to dozens of Saudi nationals. Human rights organizations continue to criticize the lack of high-level accountability for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and expression are fundamental human rights. Saudi Arabian Government, despite being a theocracy, has a duty and responsibility to protect these freedoms while safeguarding all people under its territorial jurisdiction from discrimination, intimidation, arbitrary and selective prosecution and violence. Saudi Arabia must understand that the international community now adheres to the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Any other sovereign country now has jurisdiction to intervene if the Saudi government fails to adhere to international norms on human rights. Failure to adhere to international norms might put Saudi ruling establishment at risk of arrest and prosecution in third countries. The Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman may not want to follow the fate of Israeli Prime Minster Benyami Netanyahu who faces international arrest warrants.

This case also illustrates the unique challenges faced by expatriate professionals in an era of social media and universal access to writings in one jurisdiction to another jurisdiction. Perhaps, time has come for entities like International Labor Organization (ILO) to draw a code of conduct for the host nations that are importing expatriate professionals owing to domestic shortage of human resources.  Host countries must give legal protection from selective prosecution based on alleged writings on social media that do not call for violence or heinous crimes like terrorism. Expatriate workers in West Asian countries routinely face abuse, torture, financial and sexual exploitation and human trafficking. There is a definite pattern of deliberate provocation, legal entrapment by Islamic detractors against non-Muslim expatriates and migrant workers. 

International human rights law restricts the death penalty to the ‘most serious crimes,’ understood to involve intentional killing, yet the Saudi authorities in recent years have continued to impose death sentences for conduct that should not be criminalized and to execute people at a startling rate after grossly unfair trials, including for non-violent offenses.   Sentencing a man to death over a social media post is a chilling illustration of the Saudi Sharia’h court authorities’ willingness to impose this cruel and irreversible punishment, including for acts that should never be criminalized. Saudi executive, the ruling royal family and the judicial authorities should immediately establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for blasphemy.

West Asian nations are notorious for abuse of migrant workers. Per an investigative report by the Guardian, more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup in 2010 till 2021. The findings, compiled from government sources, mean an average of 12 migrant workers from these five south Asian nations died each week since the night in December 2010 when the streets of Doha were filled with ecstatic crowds celebrating Qatar’s victory. In contrast, Qatari Supreme Committee officials and government statements reported only 3 work-related deaths and 37 non-work- deaths related specifically on World Cup stadium construction sites. A senior Qatari official Hassan Al Thawadi stated in an interview with Reuters that the total number of worker deaths on broader tournament-related infrastructure projects was between 400 and 500. FIFA later was forced to accept partial responsibility for compensation for the lost lives but opined that primary responsibility lay on the employers and the Qatar government.

We explicitly opine that no individual should face imprisonment or execution solely for expressing an opinion, including an opinion considered offensive to a specific religious belief system in a globalized world. The imposition of a death sentence for a nonviolent social media comment represents a profoundly disproportionate and irreversible punishment. It raises grave concerns about freedom of expression, religious liberty, due process, and the protection of foreign nationals under international human rights law. Even in a theocratic state with a designated state religion, respect for other religious traditions must coexist with respect for human dignity and the fundamental right to life. Criticism of religious ideas, however objectionable it may be to others, cannot justify the deprivation of human life.

At this juncture, we are very thankful, indeed, that the Saudi Arabian Supreme court set aside the death penalty verdict. We request the Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Anojan from prison, hand him over to Sri Lankan embassy in presence of International Red Cross and other UN agencies so that he can be safely repatriated to his home without any further harm to his life or person. All legal proceedings against him whether in the criminal courts or in the Sharia’h courts should be immediately suspended. If that requires royal clemency, so be it. Failure to do so would cause grave harm to this unfortunate victim of entrapment and selective prosecution but also cause long-term damage to Saudi national and geo-political interests and would expose Saudi officials for the risk of international prosecution and arrest.

We request the UNSC, UNOHRC, Sri Lankan government, international community and other human rights organizations to continue to engage with the Saudi Arabian government till Anojan is out of that totalitarian country back to his native Sri Lanka to be reunited with his family. We request all the human rights activists, organizations and press to keep highlighting this issue on social media handles and all electronic and print media till a successful result is achieved.