Saudi top court overturns Sri Lankan's blasphemy death sentence

Status of lower-court sanctions after reprieve remains unclear

Saudi Arabia’s highest court on Wednesday overturned the death sentence imposed on Anojan Sivarasa, a 27-year-old Sri Lankan guest worker who had been convicted of blasphemy for a Facebook comment about the Prophet Muhammad, Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra said.

The case drew international condemnation from human rights organizations and prompted an intensive diplomatic campaign by Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s ambassador, officials of the foreign and overseas workers’ ministries, and legal teams in both countries worked the case, according to Hemachandra, who thanked Saudi authorities for their cooperation and credited the outcome to “sustained diplomatic and legal efforts” by those involved.

A Saudi appellate court had imposed the death sentence in September after finding Sivarasa guilty of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. The ruling sparked outrage among Sri Lankans and international human rights groups. Human Rights Watch criticized what it said was Saudi Arabia’s use of unprecedented sentences for speech-related infractions.

Sivarasa is alleged to have posted a comment in his native Tamil insulting the Prophet Muhammad in June, during a heated online exchange over religion. The comment came in response to a derogatory post about a Hindu deity. Sivarasa removed the post and issued an apology, but was arrested in July.

Sri Lankan member of parliament Faizer Mustafa, who was involved in the legal negotiations with Riyadh, told the BBC’s Sinhala-language service that the death sentence had been set aside and that the Supreme Court’s judgment was in the process of being reviewed. Whether the judgment was final was not immediately clear.

Human Rights Watch had criticized what it said was Saudi Arabia’s use of unprecedented sentences for speech-related infractions in remarks issued a day before the court’s action. “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,” Human Rights Watch senior Saudi Arabia researcher Joey Shea said Tuesday.

It was unclear if or how Wednesday’s reprieve in the Supreme Court affects other criminal sanctions imposed on Sivarasa by the lower courts. Saudi courts had previously sentenced Sivarasa to a five-year prison term and imposed an $800,000 fine, and the status of those penalties after the Supreme Court’s action was not addressed in the immediate accounts from either government.

The case drew attention to conditions faced by migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, whom Human Rights Watch described as already in a vulnerable position with limited protections.