An appeal seeking to commute the death sentence imposed on Sri Lankan migrant worker Anojan Sivarasa is scheduled to be filed before the Saudi Supreme Court today, NewsFirst reported.
The state legal delegation that left for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday held further discussions with the Saudi law firms handling the case on Friday to finalise the filing.
NewsFirst names three members of the delegation: Additional Solicitor General and President’s Counsel Azard Navavi, with President’s Counsels Upul Kumarapperuma and Faiszer Musthapha. The team as reported at the time of its departure had a fourth member, Attorney-at-Law Hafeel Farisz. NewsFirst renders the Additional Solicitor General’s name as “Asad Navavi”; the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times both gave it as Azard Navavi.
What happens if the appeal fails
If the Supreme Court appeal does not succeed, a clemency petition is expected to be submitted to the King of Saudi Arabia. On the sequence NewsFirst describes, that petition is the step held in reserve for the failure of the judicial route rather than one pursued in parallel with it.
Separately, the Chief Prelates of the Ramanya Maha Nikaya and the Amarapura Maha Nikaya recently handed the President a memorandum requesting state intervention to secure Sivarasa’s release.
The case
Sivarasa, a resident of Natpiddimunai, Kalmunai, travelled to Saudi Arabia for work nine months ago. The Al-Ahsa Criminal Court initially sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of three million Saudi riyals over a statement he posted on social media.
His legal team appealed. Saudi prosecutors then filed a counter-request, and on considering both, the court imposed the death penalty instead — a sentence increased, rather than reduced, by the act of appealing.
He was moved to a new cell at Dammam Prison earlier this week after an altercation.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not say at what time the appeal is to be filed, confirm whether it was in fact lodged, or name the Saudi law firms. It gives no date for a Supreme Court hearing and does not state the deadline by which the appeal must be filed — a gap this newsroom flagged on 4 October and which remains open. It does not say who would present the clemency petition to the King or when, and carries no comment from the Attorney General’s Department or the Foreign Ministry on the prospects of either step.
Tamil Guardian has reported criticism of the government’s earlier handling of the case by Batticaloa MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, including questions over who instructed the lawyer who appeared for Sivarasa and how nearly two million rupees in family-paid legal fees were disbursed. That report could not be dated through this newsroom’s usual verification route and is noted here rather than cited.
