Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday signed the death warrants to hang four drug convicts, ending a four-decade-long moratorium on the capital punishment in the country.
Sirisena said he was committed to bringing back capital punishment for drug offenders.
The last execution in Sri Lanka was 43 years ago.
“I have signed the relevant documents and forwarded them to the concerned authorities,” Sirisena told reporters on Wednesday.
He said he treats the drug menace as main problem in the country where over 60 per cent of the island’s 24,000 people in jail are sentenced due to drug addiction. (PTI)
