COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan opposition lawmaker on Saturday urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to seek Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in the case of a minority Tamil youth facing judicial proceedings in Saudi Arabia.
The appeal concerns Anojan Sivarasa, a Sri Lankan national, whose family has claimed that he was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a social media post allegedly amounting to blasphemy.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry has, however, not confirmed that Sivarasa has been sentenced to death.
“I urge President @anuradisanayake to bring #Anojan_Sivarasa’s desperate plight to the urgent attention of your friend, recipient of ‘SriLanka Rathna’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Tamil Progressive Alliance leader Mano Ganesan said in a post on X.
“Given PM Modi’s close ties with Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, I appeal to you to ask PM Modi to personally intervene with Crown Prince Salman and seek a humanitarian resolution for Anojan,” Ganesan added.
Sivarasa is a minority Tamil from Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, officials said.
He is a resident of Natpittimunai in Kalmunai, and travelled to Saudi Arabia for employment nine months ago, the NewsFirst media portal reported.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said: “The Ministry remains engaged with the relevant Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels and is taking appropriate steps to safeguard Mr. Anojan Sivarasa’s interests and provide him with all possible assistance.” it said in a statement.
Sivarasa has been initially sentenced to five years in prison and fined three million Saudi riyals after being found guilty of posting social media content deemed insulting to a religion, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
Sivarasa's lawyer later verbally informed the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh that the sentence had reportedly been enhanced to capital punishment, according to the report.
However, the embassy is awaiting the formal written judgment from Saudi judicial authorities before confirming the development, the report said.
The lawyer has informed the embassy that the judgment could be appealed before Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court within one month. The embassy, in consultation with the ministry, is taking steps to pursue the appeal in coordination with Sivarasa's family, it said.
