> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Anojan's Family and Sri Lankan Government Give Conflicting Accounts of Prison Attack - URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/featured/anojans-family-and-government-dispute-how-he-was-hurt-in-saudi-prison/ - Published: 2026-10-08T00:59:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T04:12:25.000Z - Author: Our Reporter - Tags: October 2026 **COLOMBO, Sri Lanka —** Sivarasa Anojan, the Sri Lankan migrant worker facing execution in Saudi Arabia, told his family that he had been attacked with a sharp weapon in prison, according to a civil society activist working closely with his relatives. Sri Lanka's government, relying on information from Saudi prison authorities, told Parliament on Wednesday that his injuries had been caused by another inmate's fingernails. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath gave the government's accountin reply to urgent questions from Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, an Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi member of Parliament from Batticaloa District. Under questioning, Mr. Herath acknowledged that Sri Lankan diplomats who visited the prison had not been permitted to see Mr. Anojan, and that the government's description of his injuries came entirely from Saudi prison officials. Mr. Anojan, a Tamil from Natpiddimunai, near Kalmunai in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, was sentenced to death on Sept. 17 by a Saudi appeals court over a Facebook comment that a lower court had found insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. Sri Lanka has until Oct. 17 to challenge the sentence before Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court. Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, a civil society activist who has been assisting the family, said Mr. Anojan had called his relatives from prison and told them, crying, that he had been attacked with a sharp weapon and wounded in six places on his head. "Anojan called us himself and said he had injuries in six places on his head," Mr. Rajeevkanth said Wednesday. "He was crying as he told us that he had been attacked with a sharp weapon." In Parliament, Mr. Rasamanickam said the family had been told that Mr. Anojan was struck on the head with a knife and that his life had been in danger. According to the family, he said, Mr. Anojan had been moved from the prison where he was previously held to another prison, where he was attacked by a prisoner in the section for inmates under sentence of death. Mr. Herath said officials from the Sri Lankan Embassy had visited the prison in Dammam twice, most recently on Oct. 6, when they met the superintendent and the prison doctor. According to the explanation they received, an argument between Mr. Anojan and his cellmate escalated into a physical confrontation, and the prison doctor attributed scratches on his face and body to the other inmate's fingernails. No knife or other weapon was used, the minister said. Saudi officials told the diplomats that there was no identified threat to Mr. Anojan's life and that he had been moved to another cell. Mr. Rasamanickam asked whether the embassy officials had seen Mr. Anojan or had relied only on what prison staff told them. Mr. Herath replied that they had not been given permission to meet him or observe his condition, and that the information he had presented to Parliament was what the prison doctor and prison officials had provided. The minister said it was inappropriate to spread unverified claims that Mr. Anojan had been attacked with a weapon or seriously injured in the head, and that such claims could damage the reputation of the Saudi government. He said the government was proceeding through diplomatic channels and placed its trust in the Saudi authorities. Mr. Rasamanickam said he was not raising the discrepancy to criticize Saudi Arabia, noting that he was one of a few Tamil lawmakers regularly invited to Saudi National Day events. He said he was asking on behalf of Mr. Anojan's family and the people of his area, and wanted the information reaching both the government and the family to be verified. Mr. Herath said the government was arranging to provide the family with information and documents concerning Mr. Anojan's medical condition. Neither the prison doctor's findings nor any independent medical assessment has been made public. Jaffna Monitor could not independently determine how Mr. Anojan was injured, the extent of his injuries or whether a weapon was involved. Mr. Rajeevkanth stood by the family's account but said he did not intend to dispute the explanation provided by the Saudi prison authorities, because Mr. Anojan's immediate safety was the priority. "Anojan was attacked with a sharp weapon," he said. "After that, prison authorities took steps to ensure his safety. We are not going to question further what they have told the government. Our primary objective is to ensure Anojan's protection." On Wednesday, Mr. Rajeevkanth met the United Nations resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche, in Colombo to seek international attention to Mr. Anojan's safety. He was accompanied by Mr. Anojan's younger brother, who has been staying at Mr. Rajeevkanth's home, and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, a member of Parliament from Jaffna District and the leader of the Tamil National People's Front. Mr. Rajeevkanth first made the assault allegation public on Monday, saying he had received information that fellow prisoners had attacked Mr. Anojan, and called on the Sri Lankan government, its embassy in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi prison authorities to ensure that he received medical treatment and was protected from further harm. Mr. Rasamanickam also pressed the government on its handling of the legal case. He asked the minister to table the appeal filed by Saudi prosecutors, which Mr. Herath had earlier told Parliament sought a harsher punishment, along with the original judgment, Mr. Anojan's own appeal, the judgment imposing the death sentence and any filing before the Supreme Court. Mr. Herath said he was prepared to table some of the judgments and legal documents the government held, but that it had not yet received the full prosecution appeal. He said the document would be tabled once it arrived. Mr. Rasamanickam's written questions also asked when the government obtained the prosecution's appeal, whether it was available before Mr. Anojan's own appeal was heard, and whether the family had been told it carried a risk of a heavier sentence. He asked who authorized Mr. Anojan's appeal and what legal advice had been obtained, sought a breakdown of legal fees paid by the government and by the family, and asked when Mr. Anojan last spoke to his relatives and when an embassy official last had direct access to him. The minister's replies, as set out in a statement issued by Mr. Rasamanickam's office, did not address those questions. Documents previously reviewed by Jaffna Monitor showed that the Foreign Ministry helped arrange Mr. Anojan's appeal even though a legal opinion obtained by the embassy had described the chances of securing a reduced sentence as "extremely low." None of the documents recorded any warning to the family that the appeal could result in a harsher sentence. The ministry sent the family a copy of the appeal memorandum on Sept. 16, more than three weeks after it was filed and one day before the appeals court delivered its ruling. Mr. Anojan was working in Saudi Arabia when he joined online exchanges between Hindus and Muslims over a video showing a young Muslim man kicking a stray dog that had accompanied Hindu pilgrims on the annual Pada Yatra to Kataragama, a major religious pilgrimage in Sri Lanka. The dog, which pilgrims called Subramani, had attracted public attention for traveling hundreds of kilometers with them. A comment Mr. Anojan posted during the exchanges became the basis of his prosecution. According to a judgment reviewed by Jaffna Monitor, the Criminal Court in Al-Ahsa convicted him on July 28 of publishing material through an information network in a manner harmful to religious values and public morals, and of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, which the court described as an offense under Shariah. The court sentenced him to five years in prison and imposed a fine of three million Saudi riyals, approximately $800,000\. The family appealed in the hope of a reduced sentence. On Sept. 17, the appeals court sentenced him to death. Mr. Herath told Parliament that Sri Lankan and Saudi lawyers were working together on the Supreme Court challenge, and that a Sri Lankan legal team that included two President's Counsel had traveled to the kingdom. He said the government expected to file the appeal before Oct. 14, ahead of the deadline. He said the government would pursue every available legal avenue while respecting Saudi judicial procedures and Shariah law. Senior Saudi officials, he said, had indicated that they did not welcome outside interference while the case remained before the courts. Depending on the outcome, Sri Lanka could consider further diplomatic measures, including a petition for royal clemency. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met Mr. Anojan's parents last month and said his government would formally request clemency from the Saudi king. Mr. Rasamanickam asked for the status of that request and of a proposed parliamentary delegation to Saudi Arabia to be led by the Deputy Speaker. Mr. Herath said a decision on the delegation would depend on the court proceedings. Tamil and Muslim political leaders in Sri Lanka have urged Saudi Arabia to spare Mr. Anojan's life. Mr. Rajeevkanth said the campaign had spread beyond Sri Lanka, but he expressed disappointment that some members of the Muslim community had criticized it. "The entire country should speak with one voice on this matter," he said. He said he had conveyed the information he received about the alleged assault to the United Nations. "Everything I have written and said is true," he said. "That is the one thing I can state with certainty."