King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

A statement published by the official SPA news agency named the four as Victor Corea, Ranjith de Silva, Sanath Pushpakumara and Sharmal Sangeeth Kumara.

It said they had been executed for robbing a number of businesses at gunpoint.

Executions are usually carried out in public in conservative Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of Sharia, or Islamic law. The Saudi government has announced at least fifteen executions so far this year.

I did not see an active intervention from Sri Lankan government to save their lives Fritz Kodagoda

In July 2005 speaking with bbcsinhala.com website from his prison cell at al-Hair jail in Riyadh, Ranjith Silva said the inmates do not usually sleep on Thursday nights as ‘fateful Fridays’ arrive.

The inmates also said that they were denied an initial fair trial as the Sri Lankan Embassy authorities in Riyadh failed to provide them with legal assistance.

Speaking to Sandeshaya Minister Keheliya Rambukwalla said that the government is in the process of recovering the bodies.

"We advise Sri Lankans going abroad to comply with the laws of the land" added the minister.

Appeal to President Rajapaksa

“I did not see an active intervention from Sri Lankan government to save their lives” said Fritz Kodagoda, a London based Human Rights Barrister.

	Fritz Kodagoda

“We are surprised about the sudden execution without any prior warning when we informed last August that they will not be executed” he added.

In 2005 July London based Human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) issued a special appeal on three of the Sri Lankans facing executions in Saudi Arabia.

Today, the Sri Lankan embassy failed to confirm or deny the executions had taken place.

On several occasions, the families of the prisoners and campaigners appealed the Sri Lankan government to intervene.

The family members say that they also appealed to President Mahinda Rajapakse to ask for a pardon from the Saudi government.