Two President’s Counsel will travel at their own expense as Sri Lanka widens the legal and diplomatic effort to save Sivarasa Anojan from a death sentence in Saudi Arabia.
The effort to save Sivarasa Anojan has moved into a new phase, with Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath telling Parliament yesterday that President’s Counsel Faiszer Musthapha and Upul Kumarapperuma have undertaken to assist with his legal representation in Saudi Arabia.
Significantly, Herath said the two lawyers would travel using their own personal resources, while the Government has undertaken to meet the legal expenses associated with Anojan’s case. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh remains in contact with Anojan and is examining the remaining avenues available under Saudi law.
Submit Your Press Release
Get your company news, announcements, launches, appointments and events in front of a wider audience.
The Government is also proposing a parliamentary delegation led by Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih to carry an appeal from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, while Herath intends to raise the case directly with his Saudi counterpart. The objectives include a pardon, commutation of the death sentence or another form of relief.
There is now another potentially important diplomatic dimension.
Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed has volunteered his assistance to Musthapha and Kumarapperuma in pursuing a humanitarian appeal to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
NEWSLINE reliably understands that Nasheed has invited the two President’s Counsel for discussions on how that intervention might be pursued.
For Anojan and his family, none of these interventions guarantees an outcome.
But something important has changed.
The lawyers are stepping forward. The Government is moving. A former President has offered to help. Now every available legal, diplomatic and humanitarian door must be tried. And Sri Lanka’s President is very much behind this initiative.
