Friday Nov 13, 2026
Friday Nov 13, 2026
Friday, 13 November 2026 04:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
For a country accustomed more to bad news than good news, there was a sense welcome sigh of relief on Wednesday when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Anojan Sivarasa, the Sri Lankan man who was facing charges in Saudi Arabia, has been released of all charges and would he sent back to the country soon.
Credit must go to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, as well as the MFA and its officials along with Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath as well as others who came forward to secure his release. The Government allocated a substantial amount of funds to hire lawyers for Anojan and ensured he got a fair hearing and it was money well spent.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Riyadh and his staff as well as the group of lawyers who travelled to Saudi Arabia to assist with the matter also did their part, first managing to have the death sentence imposed on Anojan set aside and then getting the charges against him dropped.
The Government and the judiciary of Saudi Arabia played the most decisive role in listening to the pleas made on behalf of Anojan which came not only from Sri Lanka but also international human rights Organisations such as Amnesty International.
For Saudi Arabia too, choosing to release Anojan will go some way to help boost its human rights image given that the country is among nations with the highest number of death sentences carried out in the world. It is likely Saudi Arabia will win praise for this humane decision. Anojan Sivarasa faced a blasphemy charge over a comment he posed on Facebook. He has apologised for the post and said he regrets his actions.
There are thousands of Sri Lankans employed in Saudi Arabia and in the wider gulf region. These Lankans send home remittances which are crucial for the country. The host countries have been overwhelmingly generous towards Sri Lankan citizens. There have been some unfortunate incidents no doubt but given the number of Lankans who live and work in these countries, we have to expect that there could be incidents such as Anojan’s or more tragically like that of the Lankan girl Rizana Nafeek who was executed in 2013 over a murder charge.
There are lessons to be learnt from Anojan’s case. He had posted a religiously sensitive comment while employed in Saudi Arabia where the punishment for doing so includes the death penalty. In Sri Lanka one would not face the death penalty but being insensitive to others beliefs/faith can only lead to breakdown in relations between communities.
Be it in Sri Lanka or Saudi Arabia, it is best to be cautious when putting thoughts down on social media platforms. Just because it is easy to write down some words on social media platforms, it is important to think before posting. Had things gone the other way, Anojan could have been executed by now and his family left to grieve him while leaving inter-communal relations also in tatters.
Different countries have different laws and it is important to respect them. When foreigners visit Sri Lanka we expect them to respect our cultural/religious values. It is the same when Sri Lankans visit or live in a foreign land. Hence it is important to reflect on that aspect of this case as well as the country awaiting Anojan’s return.
