After recruitment drive ends, Sri Lanka picks two hangmen as death penalty for drug offences resume
- The two men were picked out of 100 applicants who responded to an ad calling for suitable candidates of ‘excellent moral character’ and ‘mental strength’
- They will have to go through a two-week training, said a prisons spokesman
President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Wednesday an end to a moratorium on the death penalty in force since 1976, a move political analysts said was meant to boost his chances of re-election if he stands again later this year.
Local and international rights groups, along with Britain, Canada, the European Union and United Nations have raised concerns about the South Asian nation’s restoration of capital punishment.
Sri Lanka shortlists 47 potential executioners as president launches Duterte-inspired war on drugs
“The recruitment process is finalised and two [hangmen] have been selected. The two need to go through final training which will take about two weeks,” prisons spokesman Thushara Upuldeniya said.
Prisons Commissioner TMJW Thennakoon declined to provide details of the four convicts whose death penalties were approved by the president.
On Friday, a petitioner – a Sri Lankan journalist – filed public interest litigation seeking to stop any executions, arguing that people’s rights were being violated. A court hearing will be held on July 2, and Thennakoon pledged that there would be no executions for the next seven days.
Sri Lanka’s president follows Duterte’s lead by restoring death penalty
A spokesman for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Thursday international drug control conventions cannot be used to justify the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences alone.
“Application of the death penalty may also impede international cooperation in fighting drug trafficking as there are national laws that [bar] the exchange of information and extradition with countries which may impose capital punishment for the offences concerned,” the UNODC spokesman said.
Criminals in Sri Lanka are regularly given death sentences for murder, rape and drug-related crimes but until now their punishments have been commuted to life in prison.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse