Colombo, October 29
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the stay order till November 10 against a move by President Maithripala Sirisena to reinstate capital punishment in the country for the first time since 1976 before he leaves office next month.
Sri Lanka has maintained a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment. However, Sirisena in June this year announced that he has signed the death warrants of four drug convicts and that the executions will take place soon. Later, the move was stayed till October 29 by the Supreme Court after it took into consideration a number of petitions filed against the President’s order that termed the order as a violation of the fundamental rights of the convicts.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with drug-related crimes for many years and officials say it is being used by dealers as a transit centre.
MA Sumanthiran, a lawyer, filed a case claiming that Sirisena’s decision impinges on the rights of one of the drug convicts. “The case argument was that hanging would be a cruel and degrading treatment,” Sumanthiran said. — PTI
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2MX8yY7
via Today’s News Headlines
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