Sri Lanka court suspends plans to carry out executions

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court yesterday suspended President Maithripala Sirisena’s moves to end a 43-year-old moratorium on capital punishment by hanging four drug convicts. The court banned any executions until it has ruled on a petition seeking a declaration that hanging breaches the country’s constitution.

“The court will take up hearing the case on October 29 and in the meantime the prisons department was asked not to implement any order by the president to carry out the death penalty,” a court official said. M.A. Sumanthiran, a Sri Lankan legislator and a lawyer representing a condemned prisoner, said death by hanging was a “cruel and degrading punishment”. “It is the fundamental right of any individual not to be subjected to cruel and degrading treatment,” Sumanthiran said.

“It is on that basis we want courts to hold that execution of capital punishment is a violation of the constitution.” The challenge added to several other cases filed in lower courts. Sirisena told reporters on June 26 that he had signed four death warrants for convicted drug offenders and he expected them to be hanged within weeks. Sri Lanka’s last hangman retired in 2014, but officials said they had selected two out of 26 candidates to become executioners although their names were being kept secret for fear of attacks.