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Sri Lanka planning executions after 43-year moratorium
Source: The Guardian
Sri Lanka planning executions after 43-year moratorium
Capital punishment to return as president signs death warrant for four drug offenders
Wed 26 Jun 2019 15.58 BST Last modified on Wed 26 Jun 2019 17.20 BST
Sri Lanka’s president has ordered the execution of four drug offenders, potentially ending a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment.
Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said on Wednesday that he had signed the death warrants, which had the dates of the executions, and sent the documents to prison authorities.
He said drugs had become a serious menace across the country and there were 300,000 addicts. According to Sirisena, 60% of 24,000 inmates had been jailed for drug-related offences.
Sri Lanka prisons are built to accommodate 11,000 people. The government last executed a prisoner in 1976 but there are 1,299 inmates on death row, including 48 convicted of drug offences.
-snip-
Capital punishment to return as president signs death warrant for four drug offenders
Wed 26 Jun 2019 15.58 BST Last modified on Wed 26 Jun 2019 17.20 BST
Sri Lanka’s president has ordered the execution of four drug offenders, potentially ending a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment.
Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said on Wednesday that he had signed the death warrants, which had the dates of the executions, and sent the documents to prison authorities.
He said drugs had become a serious menace across the country and there were 300,000 addicts. According to Sirisena, 60% of 24,000 inmates had been jailed for drug-related offences.
Sri Lanka prisons are built to accommodate 11,000 people. The government last executed a prisoner in 1976 but there are 1,299 inmates on death row, including 48 convicted of drug offences.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/26/sri-lanka-planning-executions-after-43-year-moratorium
