A five-year sentence became death over one Facebook comment

A Saudi appeals court sentenced a Sri Lankan migrant worker to death over a Facebook comment it deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, Human Rights Watch said. ^[1]

The Court of Appeal in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Region imposed the sentence on September 17, after two appeal sessions, according to court documents reviewed by the rights group. The initial punishment had been five years in prison and a fine of three million Saudi riyals, about $800,000. ^[1]

The worker deleted his Tamil-language comment and posted an apology video, according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Prosecutors nevertheless pursued the case and appealed the first sentence. Amnesty says the appeal court changed the legal basis of the punishment, imposing death under its interpretation of Sharia. ^[1][2]

Sri Lanka has sent lawyers and officials to Saudi Arabia and is seeking to have the sentence overturned or commuted. The case puts the protection available to migrant workers under sharp scrutiny, particularly access to a lawyer before a court decides their fate. Amnesty says the worker had no legal representation between his arrest and his initial sentencing. ^[2][4]

The proceedings are documented by rights groups that say they reviewed court records. The sources do not confirm whether a further appeal has been filed or provide an execution timetable, and they contain no Saudi response to calls to overturn the sentence. ^[1][2][3][4]

A deleted comment, then an arrest

The online exchange began in late June. According to the BBC, a video connected to an incident during a Hindu pilgrimage in Sri Lanka prompted religiously charged comments on Facebook. On June 28, the worker replied in Tamil with words that some viewers considered offensive to the Prophet Muhammad. He subsequently removed the comment and published his apology. ^[1][2][3]

The deletion did not stop the comment from reaching Saudi authorities. According to a family member interviewed by Human Rights Watch, a screenshot was sent to the authorities and the worker's employer. The employer kept him in its office for at least 24 hours before taking him to a police station in Dammam, where he was arrested on July 1. ^[1]

Court documents obtained by Human Rights Watch describe two charges: verbally insulting and offending the Prophet Muhammad, and distributing online material prejudicial to religious values and public morals. The prosecution therefore treated the Facebook exchange as both a religious offense and an offense involving online publication. ^[1]

On July 27, the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court convicted the worker under Article 6 of Saudi Arabia's Anti-Cyber Crime Law. Alongside the five-year sentence and three million-riyal fine, it ordered his electronic device confiscated and his Facebook account closed, according to documents reviewed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty. ^[1][2]

Both sides appealed. The Al-Ahsa Public Prosecution challenged the initial sentence, while the worker's lawyer also sought to overturn it. After two sessions, the appeals court imposed death. ^[1][2]

How the punishment changed

Amnesty describes the death sentence as a hadd punishment under Sharia. That means the appeals court treated the penalty as a fixed religious punishment, rather than retaining the prison term and fine imposed under the cybercrime law. ^[2]

According to Amnesty, Saudi Arabia has no written penal code, leaving many offenses and punishments to judges' interpretation of Sharia. In this case, the initial court applied a written law governing online activity, while the appeals court imposed a death sentence on a different legal basis. ^[2]

The reported proceedings identify a conviction for insulting the Prophet and an appeal-stage punishment under Sharia. They do not identify a separate written blasphemy statute applied at the initial trial. ^[1][2]

Access to a defense is central to that sequence. Amnesty's account says the worker was denied access to a lawyer from his arrest until the first sentencing. His lawyer later appealed, but that came after the criminal court had convicted him and set the original punishment. ^[1][2]

The case also sits within a wider use of capital punishment. Amnesty reported that Saudi Arabia had executed at least 175 people by October 5, 2026. At least 94 were foreign nationals from more than 20 countries, meaning foreigners accounted for more than half of its reported total. ^[2]

Saudi Arabia has more than 10 million foreign workers, according to the BBC. Rights groups have raised concerns about language barriers and access to legal representation for migrants facing criminal proceedings. Here, a comment written in Tamil became the subject of a Saudi prosecution carrying the death penalty. ^[1][3]

Sri Lanka seeks relief

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament on October 7 that the government was taking every possible step under Saudi law to secure relief and commutation, according to The Hindu. Political parties, religious leaders and civil society groups in Sri Lanka have also called for clemency. ^[4]

Amnesty's October 8 update said the worker had not yet formally appealed the death sentence. The following day, The Hindu reported that Sri Lanka was preparing a petition to Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court. ^[2][4]

Upul Kumarapperuma, a lawyer serving with the Sri Lankan government delegation in Saudi Arabia, said the team hoped to file on October 9 or October 10. The next legal step identified by that delegation was to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the death sentence. ^[4]