Sri Lanka ready for landmark hanging
Sri Lanka is ready to execute five drug convicts and end its 42-year capital punishment moratorium once President Maithripala Sirisena signs the death warrants and a hangman is appointed, officials said yesterday.
Sirisena announced last year a tougher line on spiralling narcotics-related crime including executions for repeat drug offenders, inspired by a similar crackdown in the Philippines.
The country's justice minister told parliament yesterday that legal and administrative procedures for the five condemned Sri Lankans were completed last month, paving the way for the first hangings since 1976.
"We have already complied with the president's request to restart capital punishment," Thalatha Athukorale said.
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