ZCZC
BFF-32
SRILANKA-DRUGS-CRIME
Sri Lanka seeks hangmen to resume executions
COLOMBO, Feb 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lanka has started advertising for
hangmen, after the president vowed to resume executions for the first time in
four decades as part of a hardline anti-drugs crackdown inspired by the
Philippines.
Candidates must have “mental strength” and “excellent moral character”,
according to job ads placed by prison authorities to fill long-vacant
positions.
There are two vacancies, and only Sri Lankan men aged between 18 and 45
need apply.
Sri Lanka has not hanged any convicts since a moratorium on capital
punishment was imposed in 1976, but President Maithripala Sirisena last week
announced plans to resume hangings within two months.
Sirisena told parliament he was committed to bringing back the death
penalty for drug offenders, after vowing a tougher line on spiralling
narcotics-related crime, modelled on a crackdown in the Philippines.
Following a visit to the Philippines last month, Sirisena said he wanted
to copy President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial strongarm tactics in
dealing with illegal drugs.
Criminals in Sri Lanka are regularly given death sentences for murder,
rape and drug-related crimes but until now their punishments have been
routinely commuted to life in jail.
An executioner was in post at the main prison in Colombo until his
retirement in 2014, but attempts to replace him failed. Three recruits had
quit within weeks with no work to do.
“Selected candidates will be referred to a test conducted at the National
Hospital to check the mental strength,” according to the advertisement.
The chosen candidates will be offered a maximum salary of 36,410 rupees
($208) a month and will be eligible for a state pension.
The justice ministry has said that it had completed administrative
procedures for the execution of five drug convicts.
However, President Sirisena is yet to sign a death warrant of a condemned
prisoner.
BSS/AFP/RY/1610 hrs