Just let him go home.
This is insane.
Saudi Arabia has sentenced Anojan Sivarasa, a Sri Lankan migrant worker, to death. His family is trying to bring him home.
The 26-year-old moved to Saudi Arabia in 2025 to work for Denys Arabia, an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor.
During Sri Lanka’s June 2026 Pada Yatra, a stray dog began following pilgrims, who named him after Lord Subramaniam. Then, a video of a man kicking the dog went viral. One user made a reportedly derogatory comment about Shiva. Sivarasa responded with an allegedly derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad.
Sivarasa deleted his comment after 10 minutes and apologized on video. But people still circulated his words with his photo. By June 30, Denys Arabia had fired him. “People in Saudi Arabia knew nothing about this matter. It was individuals in Sri Lanka who sent emails to the company where my brother worked,” Hamsidan, Sivarasa’s brother, told BBC.
On July 1, the Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi Arabia asked Denys Arabia to help bring Sivarasa back home. The next day, the company said Saudi police had arrested Sivarasa for violating cybercrime law. On July 28, a court convicted him, sentencing him to five years in prison and 3 million Saudi riyals (about $800,000).
Both sides appealed the sentence, with the prosecution seeking the death penalty. On September 17, the court sentenced Sivarasa to death for blasphemy. Executions for blasphemy are rare in Saudi Arabia. The country executed a record 356 people in 2025.
Sivarasa’s family hasn’t heard from him since September 26. On October 6, a Sri Lankan delegation left for Saudi Arabia to meet his lawyers. Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his government would seek a pardon. About 250,000 Sri Lankans live in Saudi Arabia.
“I plead for mercy for the wrongs committed by my son,” Rasamanickam Yogalakshmi, Sivarasa’s mother, told BBC. “Please forgive him and send him back to us.”