President’s Counsel Faiszer Musthapha said that Anojan Sivarasa would almost certainly have faced execution in Saudi Arabia without the direct legal intervention of the President and the Sri Lankan government.
He made these remarks in Parliament yesterday (20).
Sivarasa Anojan, a young Sri Lankan worker sentenced to death by a Saudi appellate court, was spared after the Saudi Supreme Court overturned the capital sentence following swift diplomatic and legal action.
Learning from the bitter outcome of the Rizana Nafeek case, which was heavily politicised, the President instructed that this matter be resolved strictly through official judicial channels.
Musthapha stressed that without prompt guidance from top state leadership and the Foreign Minister, the likelihood of Anojan losing his life remained extremely high.
On the President's instructions, a specialized legal delegation comprising Additional Solicitor General Azad Navavi, President’s Counsels Faiszer Musthapha and Upul Kumarapperuma, and Attorney-at-Law Hafeel Farisz travelled to Saudi Arabia to submit filings directly into the kingdom's court system.
The Sri Lankan legal team undertook the mission during a period of high regional tension when Houthi rebel attacks had disrupted international flight paths.
Navigating alternative transit routes to reach the kingdom, the lawyers appeared before the Saudi Supreme Court to challenge the death sentence, which had been imposed after a transcript of a private Facebook conversation was transmitted to authorities.
The Supreme Court subsequently set aside the capital punishment.
Although the Supreme Court invalidated the execution order, legal proceedings remain ongoing with a special hearing scheduled at the Saudi High Court to commute the remaining penalty. Political observers noted that the unified mobilization of state resources for a single citizen, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or party affiliation, set a major benchmark for national harmony.
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