Sri Lanka president signs death penalty for four drugs convicts

Published On: June 26, 2019 11:40 AM NPT By: Reuters


Sri Lanka president signs death penalty for four drugs convicts
FILE PHOTO: Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena speaks during a meeting with the Foreign Correspondents Association at his residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov. 25, 2018. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO, June 26: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said on Wednesday the government would press ahead with a controversial plan to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related offenses.

“I have already signed death penalty for four (convicts). It will be implemented soon and we have already decided the date as well,” Sirisena told reporters in Colombo, without elaborating on the date or the names of the convicts.

The last execution in Sri Lanka was 43 years ago, and Sri Lanka’s last hangman quit in 2014 without ever having to execute anyone, citing stress after seeing the gallows for the first time. Another hired last year never turned up for work.

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