President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will send a formal letter to the King of Saudi Arabia requesting clemency for Anojan Sivarasa, and the Government is considering sending a special parliamentary delegation to deliver the appeal in person.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath announced it in Parliament on Tuesday, NewsFirst reported, in the special statement he had promised on Monday. EconomyNext reported the same day that Sri Lanka is seeking clemency after the Saudi court sentenced the migrant worker to death.
Herath said Sri Lanka is pursuing legal, diplomatic and consular avenues simultaneously, seeking a pardon, a sentence reduction, or any other relief available under Saudi law.
The chronology, stated officially for the first time
Until today the case had been reported in fragments, sourced to ministry officials, the family and lawyers. Herath gave Parliament a continuous account:
- 1 July 2026 — Sivarasa’s family first contacted the Foreign Ministry, seeking help to bring him home after problems arose with his employment following a social media post.
- Same day — the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh contacted his employer for information and asked for support with repatriation.
- 2 July — the company informed the embassy that Sivarasa had been arrested by Saudi authorities. Authorities alleged a religiously sensitive statement published on social media breached the kingdom’s cybercrime laws and amounted to religious insult.
- 27 July — a trial was held through remote technology before a three-judge criminal court.
- Conviction followed under Saudi Arabia’s Anti-Cyber Crime Law: five years’ imprisonment, a fine of three million Saudi riyals, confiscation of the device, and closure of the social media account. The court did not accept the prosecution’s request at that stage to punish him under Sharia law for religious insult.
- 24 August — an appeal was filed before the Saudi appellate court, after Sivarasa himself asked for help to appeal and his father formally requested government support. The embassy arranged representation through a Saudi law firm it had used before.
- 18 September — Sri Lankan authorities were told the appellate court had accepted the prosecution’s appeal and increased the sentence to death, reclassifying the offence under Sharia law.
The appeal that raised the sentence was not only his
This is the point the early reporting got closest to inverting. Herath told Parliament that while Sivarasa’s lawyers sought a reduction, Saudi prosecutors had separately filed their own appeal seeking a harsher penalty — and that regardless of whether Sivarasa’s side had appealed at all, the prosecution had already challenged the original sentence as insufficient.
The death sentence was therefore not a consequence of his own appeal. Our earlier coverage carried the reported framing that the sentence was raised “on his own appeal”; the minister’s account corrects it.
A standing question is now closed
Since Friday the open question in this case has been whether the written judgment had actually reached anyone. Herath told Parliament the formal written judgment was received through legal counsel and transmitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has arrived.
Who is paying
Two President’s Counsel — Upul Kumarapperuma and Faiszer Musthapha — have agreed to travel to Saudi Arabia at their own expense to work with local counsel.
Because Sivarasa was registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Herath said the Government will bear all legal costs incurred in Saudi Arabia and reimburse what the family has already paid. Registration with the Bureau, often treated as a formality by departing workers, is what makes the state liable for the bill here.
The embassy in Riyadh remains in direct contact with Sivarasa and has been instructed to urgently establish what appeal or review mechanisms remain before the Saudi Supreme Court and other judicial authorities.
One date does not match
Herath places the appeal filing on 24 August. The Daily Mirror’s earlier account described an appeal memorandum filed to the Eastern Region appellate court on 25 August. The discrepancy is one day and neither account has been corrected.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not say what the social media post said, whether the Supreme Court route is still open or time-barred, when the letter to the King will be sent, who would make up the parliamentary delegation, or whether Saudi authorities have responded to any Sri Lankan approach so far. No execution date is reported.
