Betrayal, social media and tragedy: Engineer sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over Facebook comment

NEW DELHI: The family members of a 24-year-old Sri Lankan Engineer are shattered after a Saudi court sentenced the youngster to death for an alleged offensive Facebook post against Prophet Mohammed.

Anojan Sivarasa posted the comment while staying in Sri Lanka. Sivarasa returned to Saudi later as usual for work, but he didn't know that he had already been betrayed by his friends. A native of Natpittimunai in Sri Lanka’s eastern province, Sivarasa shifted to Saudi in 2025 to work as an engineer in a battery factory. He is set to marry this year.

Recently, a video went viral on social media in Sri Lanka showing a Muslim man kicking a dog at the pilgrimage spot of Kataragama. Sivarasa, who was in Sri Lanka at the time, saw a denigrating comment made at a Hindu deity by a user and got incensed. Sivarasa replied with a comment in the same denigrating way. However, he soon deleted the comment, but people in Sri Lanka sent the post to his employer in Saudi Arabia, leading to his arrest.

In July, Sivarasa was sentenced to five years in prison by Al-Ahsa Criminal Court and fined Rs 7.7 crore. However, the prosecution demanded that the case be heard under sharia law, and Sivarasa was sentenced to death on September 17th.

Even diplomatic interventions proved to be of little use as Sri Lanka’s foreign minister confirmed that a plea forwarded to the Kingdom was rejected. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said they will continue to intervene using all possible legal measures with the Saudi Supreme Court.