• Anojan’s facial injuries caused by fellow inmate  
• Sri Lankan legal team in Saudi Arabia to seek relief

Sri Lankan Embassy officials have visited Dammam Prison twice and met prison authorities on 6 October to inquire into an incident in which death-row inmate Sivarasa Anojan sustained facial injuries, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament yesterday (7).

Herath said arrangements were being made, with the intervention of the Sri Lankan Government, to prepare and submit an appeal to the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia on Anojan’s behalf, with assistance from Sri Lankan legal experts and Saudi legal advisers. A six-member Sri Lankan legal team has travelled to Saudi Arabia on the instructions of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The Embassy officials met the Prison director and the doctor responsible for inmates’ health. According to the Prison authorities, an argument between Anojan and another inmate in the same cell had escalated into a physical altercation, during which Anojan sustained scratches and fingernail marks on his face.

The Prison doctor informed the officials that no knife, sharp instrument or other weapon had been used and that the injuries were caused by the other inmate’s fingernails, Herath said.

The authorities had also assured that there was no identified threat to Anojan’s life and that necessary measures had been taken to ensure his safety. Anojan has since been transferred to another cell.

Herath said legal proceedings remained before the Saudi judicial authorities, with the Court of Appeal delivering its judgement on 17 September. He said the Government remained committed to taking every possible step, in accordance with Saudi law, to seek relief for Anojan and commutation of his death sentence.

The legal team comprises President’s Counsel (PC) and Opposition MP Mohamed Faiszer Musthapha, retired Acting Court of Appeal President and Consul General in Jeddah Justice M T Mohamed Laffar, Additional Solicitor General Hafeez Azard Navavi PC, K A Upul Indika Kumarapperuma PC, attorney-at-law Farisz Fazal Abdul Hafeel Mohomed and Musthapha’s Coordinating Secretary Mohamed Riyasdeen Silmy.

Anojan was sentenced to death by a Saudi Appellate Court over allegations of blasphemy reportedly arising from a comment he posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi Opposition MP Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam questioned the Government over its failure to obtain a copy of the Saudi prosecution’s reported appeal seeking a harsher sentence. He also questioned the basis for the Government’s claim that such an appeal had been filed.

Rasamanickam called for the appeal to be obtained and tabled in Parliament, subject to legitimate legal restrictions. He also sought clarification on whether Anojan and his family had been informed that the prosecution was seeking an enhanced sentence, details of legal advice provided, legal expenses incurred, the status of further proceedings and the President’s reported request for royal clemency.

He also sought an update on the proposed Parliamentary delegation headed by the Deputy Speaker and Anojan’s communication with his family.

Rejecting suggestions that his questions could create diplomatic difficulties with Saudi Arabia, Rasamanickam said: “It is wrong to suggest that asking questions about the actions of our own Government on behalf of a Sri Lankan citizen facing the death penalty is creating a diplomatic issue.”

He stressed that the matter should not be politicised and that the common objective should be to protect Anojan and pursue every available legal and diplomatic avenue to prevent the death sentence from being carried out.