Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has overturned the death penalty for a Sri Lankan migrant convicted for blasphemy against Islam, the Deputy Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has confirmed.
Anojan Sivarasa, 27, was convicted after he made comments on Facebook insulting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, during an argument online.
The argument was prompted by a video circulating on social media in June of a Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims.
During the argument, another user made a offensive comment about a Hindu deity, to which Sivarasa responded in Tamil insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
He quickly deleted the comment and made an apology video, but a screenshot was shown to his employers and Saudi authorities and he was arrested in July.
“My sincere appreciation to the Government of Saudi Arabia for its cooperation, and to our Ambassador, the Secretary and officials of the Foreign Ministry, Chairman and Members of [sic] Srilanka Foreign Employment Bureau and the Sri Lankan and Saudi legal teams for their dedicated efforts,” Arun Hemachandra, Sri Lanka’s deputy prime minister said on Facebook.
The case was a serious diplomatic incident in Sri Lanka, spurring huge efforts to reach clemency.
The Al-Ahsa Criminal Court initially gave Sivarasa a fine of three million Saudi riyals ($0.8m) and a five-year prison sentence.
It is not currently clear whether Sivarasa will remain in custody or whether there will be more legal proceedings.
“Saudi authorities should end their use of abusive laws to hand out extraordinary sentences for speech-related offenses, especially against migrant workers who are already in a vulnerable position with limited protections,” Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, commented on Tuesday about Sivarasa’s case.
According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia has executed more than 2000 people in the last decade.
Human rights groups have long highlighted Saudi Arabia as a country with severe restrictions on religious freedom.
Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) , in its 2025 installment of its biannual Religious Freedom in the World Report highlighted the country as a place of severe religious persecution.
“Despite laudable developments,” the report found that “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to lack freedom of religion and freedom of worship.”
Public Christian churches are banned in Saudi Arabia, and the authorities prohibit public practice of all non-Muslim religions.
Conversion from Islam technically carries the death sentence, although there are no recent examples of an execution for conversion.
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