The Mahanayake Theros of the Ramanna Maha Nikaya and the Amarapura Maha Nikaya have called on the government to intervene to secure the release of Sivarasa Anojan, the Sri Lankan migrant worker sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.
A memorandum seeking State intervention was submitted to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on 30 September. It was issued by Most Venerable Makulwe Wimalabuddhi Thero, Mahanayake Thero of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya, and Most Venerable Karagoda Uyangoda Maithreemurthi Thero, Supreme Mahanayake Thero of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya.
The document was handed to Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage at the Presidential Secretariat by Venerable Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thero, Chief Sanghanayake of Southern Lanka.
Venerable Pagoda Janthawansa Thero, Venerable Wepathaira Dhammasiri Thero, Sivasri Kugathasa Kurukkal, Attorney-at-Law Tanuja Navaratne and social activist R. A. Amila Sanjeewa were also present.
Separate appeals from Hindu clergy
A second memorandum, submitted on behalf of the Hindu community, was presented by Dr. Sivasri K. V. K. Vaithiswara Kurukkal, President of the Hindu Priests’ Association and the All Ceylon Hindu Cultural Council.
The Presidential Secretariat separately recorded a further appeal the same afternoon from the Kandyan Hindu Priests’ Association of Sri Lanka, whose memorandum was handed to Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake by the association’s General Secretary, Dr. Siva Sri Velu Suresh Sharma Kurukkal.
The case
Anojan, from Kalmunai, travelled to Saudi Arabia for work and was taken into custody there over a post published on his Facebook account. A criminal court initially imposed a prison term and a fine under cybercrime law, but on appeal the charge was treated as an offence under Sharia law and a death sentence was imposed.
The intervention continues a sustained campaign by religious bodies across faiths. Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian leaders met at Gangaramaya in late September to press the same case, and the government has said it is pursuing clemency through diplomatic channels with the Saudi authorities.
