JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan migrant worker sentenced to five years in prison in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad appealed in hopes of obtaining a lesser punishment. Instead, according to an activist involved in the case, he was sentenced to death.
Sivarasa Anojan, a Sri Lankan Tamil working in Saudi Arabia, had also been fined three million Saudi riyals under the original judgment. The death sentence was imposed on Thursday in a decision on his appeal, Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, a Sri Lankan social activist who has been actively involved in the case, said in a Facebook post.
Mr. Rajeevkanth said he was releasing the information after confirming the decision. The reported ruling came as Sri Lankan authorities and others assisting Anojan’s family had been seeking ways to reduce his punishment, including through diplomatic efforts to obtain clemency from Saudi authorities.
The case grew out of an unlikely religious dispute that began thousands of kilometres away in eastern Sri Lanka. During this year’s Pada Yatra, the annual Hindu pilgrimage to Kataragama, a stray dog named Subramani by devotees became a social media sensation after accompanying pilgrims for hundreds of kilometres. A video later circulated showing a young Muslim man kicking the dog in Kalmunai, provoking widespread anger and his subsequent arrest before he was released on bail. The episode spilled into an increasingly bitter argument on social media, with inflammatory comments directed at different religious communities. According to Anojan’s family, a Facebook comment he posted during those exchanges was later brought to the attention of Saudi authorities and became the basis of the prosecution against him.
