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  1. #31
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    Sri Lankan hangmen wanted as drug traffickers face death penalty

    The roles pay about £158 per month, and candidates should be Sri Lankan, male, aged 18 to 45 and with "excellent moral character".

    Sri Lanka is trying to hire two hangmen after bringing back the death penalty for drug traffickers.

    In a move inspired by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena said last week he wants to resume the use of capital punishment for drug traffickers in the next two months.

    A recruitment advert has appeared in the state-run Daily News offering the posts at 36,310 rupees (£158) per month, which is above average for a government job.

    Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Sri Lanka, but the country's last execution for any crime took place in 1976. Death sentences have been commuted to life in prison since then.

    Anyone wishing to apply for the role of executioner should be Sri Lankan, male, aged between 18 and 45, and have both "excellent moral character" and "mental strength," according to the ad.

    The country's recent history with executioners suggest it may prove difficult to fill the posts.

    Sri Lanka's last hangman quit in 2014 without ever having to execute anyone, claiming he was too stressed out by the sight of the gallows, while another hired last year never turned up for work.

    https://news.sky.com/story/sri-lanka...nalty-11635350
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  2. #32
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Ted's Avatar
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    Violence and death seem to be the only answers that some people understand.

  3. #33
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    After 43 years, Sri Lanka to return death penalty in 'coming days'

    Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena says he's decided on a date to carry out executions of drug offenders

    Sri Lanka looks set to end a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment as President Maithripala Sirisena continues his offensive on the drug trade.

    Sri Lankan police on Monday destroyed nearly 800 kilos of cocaine in the presence of the President, valued at more than $141 million.

    The drugs were seized in four raids between June 2016 and June 2018. More drugs await the conclusion of court cases before they are also destroyed under judicial supervision, officials said.

    Mr Sirisena has vowed to step up his 'drug war' and promised to import high tech equipment to detect narcotics at ports and airports.

    He also said he's decided on the date when Sri Lanka's first executions since 1976 will be carried out.

    “The death penalty is part of the country's constitution but it has not been implemented,” the president told reporters.

    “This is the reason for the increase in crimes, underworld activities and the drug menace.”

    "In the coming days the death penalty will be carried out. The list of names in this regards has been finalised and we have also decided on the date."

    Capital Punishment is not outlawed in Sri Lanka and is a mandatory penalty for murder.

    But there have been no executions since 1976 because successive presidents have refused to sign death warrants.

    Consequently, all death sentences have been commuted to life in prison, with over 400 prisoners serving time on death row according to the Sri Lankan Prison service.

    Mr Sirisena signaled his intention to bring back capital punishment in July last year.

    In March the government advertised in newspapers for a new executioner, asking for candidates with "excellent moral character” and “mental strength".

    The president’s approach is influenced by that of Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte, whose violent ‘war on drugs’ has claimed thousands of lives.

    Mr Sirisena visited the Philippines in January and praised Duterte’s strongarm tactics as an “example to the world”.

    “Drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard,” he said in Manila.

    Human Rights groups are urging the president to cancel the planned executions and reinstate the moratorium on capital punishment.

    “President Sirisena’s decision to restore the death penalty because he was inspired by the Philippine’s murderous ‘drug war’ may be the worst possible justification and would violate international law,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch in a statement.

    “Executions, whether imposed by a judge or carried out unlawfully by the police, are not the way to address drug offenses.”

    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/after-43...in-coming-days
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

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  4. #34
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Yet another country where the death penalty is a fake device used solely for political points.

    Sri Lankan President vows to use death penalty before leaving office

    Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to hang at least one drug dealer before he leaves office; conditional on the Supreme Court ruling in his favour and repealing the 43-year-old hiatus on the use of the death penalty for drug offences.

    In July of this year, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court order temporarily postponed the trial and possible execution of four people until October 30. The court will hear their case the day prior.

    Over a hundred human rights organisations have spoken out against Sri Lanka’s return to the death penalty.

    Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International, stated;

    “The taking of a human life by the state is one of the gravest acts a government can commit. The severity of the punishment as a minimum requires complete transparency as a key safeguard of due process.”

    Sri Lanka currently has 24,000 people incarcerated, 60 per cent are arrested on drug-related offences. There are 1,229 inmates on death row and 48 are being convicted of drug offences.

    During a rally Sirisena claimed:

    "There are cases filed against my decision. But if the court gives a favourable decision, I will surely hang at least one. I am doing them for the future of youth.”

    He further stated that Sri Lanka’s future leaders would need to invest more heavily in education; conflating drug use with intelligence.

    During the rally he claimed; "All developed countries have invested heavily in education”

    Sirisena’s war on drug draws parallels with Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, in January of this year he said to the Philippine president; “the war against crime and drugs carried out by you [President Duterte] is an example to the whole world, and personally to me. Drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard.”

    The EU has warned against Sri Lanka stating that it may further damage Sri Lanka’s international standing and discourage investors. Sri Lanka is currently a beneficiary of the GSP+ agreement with the EU which enables a preferential trade scheme but is dependent upon Sri Lanka fulfilling its commitments to human rights.

    https://www.tamilguardian.com/conten...leaving-office

    We went from a couple dozen to 5 maybe, to one before the next election.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  5. #35
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    Leading SLPP candidate in Ratnapura sentenced to death for murdering UNP supporter

    The Ratnapura High Court has sentenced a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Candidate Premalal Jayasekara to death for the murder of United National Party supporter Shantha Dodangoda during the 2015 Presidential Campaign.

    Jayasekara, a former Member of Parliament was on bail which was granted in 2016.

    The death sentence was imposed on Jayasekara and 2 others for shooting at a group of UNP supporters decorating a venue for an event in support of then Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena in 2015.

    Jayasekara, also known as Choka Malli, is contesting the current General elections under the SLPP from the Ratnapura District.

    He is the leading candidate for the SLPP from the district.

    He was the former Deputy Minister for Power and Energy and before that Deputy Minister of Mahaweli Development.

    A former Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman, Jayasekara was an MP in the recently dissolved Parliament.

    He has been in Parliament since 2001, and is 47-years old.

    In the shooting incident Shantha Dodangoda, also known as Dodangodage Susil Perera, was killed and 2 others were seriously injured.

    The injured were K. Karunadasa Weerasinghe and M. Ilshan.

    Civil Society groups including the eminent Friday Forum had castigated the SLPP for nominating Jayasekara.

    “The fact that a person accused of a serious crime is on bail does not make him eligible for nomination,” the Forum wrote in a media statement released earlier this week.

    (source: economynext.com)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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  6. #36
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Sri Lanka’s death row MP Premalal Jayasekera takes parliamentary oath

    The Hindu

    A Sri Lankan lawmaker from the ruling party, who was elected to Parliament while serving a death sentence in a murder case, was on September 8 sworn in as an MP by the Speaker.

    Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) lawmaker Premalal Jayasekera was convicted in a murder case on July 31, just days ahead of the August 5 Parliamentary elections which he contested from the south western Ratnapura region.

    He was sworn in as a Member of Parliament by speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

    His oath taking followed the court of appeal issuing an interim order directing the Commissioner-General of Prisons to make arrangements for Jayasekara to attend Parliament.

    Jayasekara had filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal asking for a relief.

    The appeal court order had come after the Attorney-General Dappula de Livera’s ruling last week that Jayasekara is unsuitable to either sit in Parliament or vote in the House.

    The Attorney General had said that as per Section 91 (1) (a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, no person shall be qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament or to sit and vote in Parliament if he is or becomes subject to any of the disqualifications specified in Article 89.

    It adds, Section 89 (d) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka notes that no person shall be qualified to be an elector at an election of the President, or of the Members of Parliament or to vote at any Referendum if he is under sentence of death and he will lose his right to vote under such a sentence.

    Jayasekera and two others were sentenced to death by the Ratnapura High Court for the 2015 murder of a political activist in the run up to the January 2015 presidential election.

    Jayasekera was not able to attend the Parliament’s inaugural session on August 20 after the SLPP’s landslide win.

    https://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...le32554116.ece
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  7. #37
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    A million rupees is $13,600.

    Sri Lankan executioners paid "millions" despite death penalty moratorium

    By Hassaan Shazuli
    News First

    Sri Lanka has spent more than a million rupees to pay salaries of two hangmen since last year alone despite ending executions in 1976, official data show.

    Each hangman is paid a monthly salary of Rs 36,410 ($495.18)according to information obtained from the department of prisons under the Right to Information Act.

    The two executioners currently in service were recruited in June last year, amidst plans to re-introduce capital punishment as a move to curb the narcotics menace.

    Sri Lanka last implemented the death penalty in 1976 but has recruited seven executioners since 1999. There were no records of executioners recruited between 1976 and 1999.

    Among the recruitments made since 1999, one had been promoted to the post of prisons controller, two had abandoned service, and another had quit.

    The prisons department told News 1st, that the hangmen are entrusted with various duties since the punishment is not in effect, but did not elaborate on the tasks.

    More than 4000 people have been sentenced to death since 1976 in the country.

    https://www.newsfirst.lk/2020/09/20/...ty-moratorium/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  8. #38
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    Sri Lankan to commute sentences of 260 Death-Row inmates; List sent to President

    COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan authorities have forwarded a proposal to the President to commute the sentences of Death-Row inmates to Life in Prison.

    The proposal contains the names of 260 Death-Row inmates, said State Minister Lohan Ratwatte.

    ‘There are more than 500 Death-Row inmates in Sri Lankan prisons,’ he told News 1st, adding the proposal for commuting sentences was sent via the Justice Ministry.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.new...president/amp/
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  9. #39
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    Pardon for Duminda: Other death row prisoners continue hunger strike

    By Sandun Jayawardana
    Sunday Times

    At the Welikada and Mahara prisons, more than 150 death-row inmates continued their hunger strike for a third straight day yesterday demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa commute their death sentences to life imprisonment.

    Another group of prisoners staged a rooftop protest on top of Chapel Ward at the Welikada Prison in solidarity with the hunger strikers.

    There are currently about 500 inmates at various prisons who are on death row.

    The protests came after former parliamentarian Duminda Silva, sentenced to death for murder, was released on a Presidential pardon on Thursday.

    Prisons Spokesman Chandana Ekanayake said the group of prisoners engaged in the rooftop protest at Welikada Prison called off their protest and came down last afternoon.

    President Rajapaksa has already been sent a list containing the names of 260 prisoners on death row with a recommendation to commute their sentences to life imprisonment, State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Lohan Ratwatte told the Sunday Times. “We have already communicated this to the prisoners on hunger strike,” he claimed.

    Prisoners have felt justifiably aggrieved by President Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon Duminda Silva on Poson Poya Day, said Senaka Perera, President of the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP). He pointed out that the pardon allowed the ex-MP, who had been on death row for the murder of four persons including former Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, to walk out of prison after less than five years.

    “There are other death row inmates who have been in prison for 20 to 25 years. Where is the relief for them?” Mr Perera queried.

    The protesting prisoners have several key demands, the CPRP President said. Main among them is the one to commute the death sentences to life imprisonment. They also want the life imprisonment sentence to be reduced to 20 years. Prisoners are also calling for the reinstatement of the process of evaluating the rehabilitative progress of all convicted prisoners every four years.

    “Duminda Silva’s pardon yet again highlights how Presidents keep misusing the power vested by the Constitution to grant pardons,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the President’s Media Division did not respond to emailed questions on whether President Rajapaksa followed due process when pardoning Mr Silva, and whether he had sought a report from the trial judges, advice of the Attorney General or recommendation of the Minister of Justice.

    https://www.sundaytimes.lk/210627/ne...ke-447612.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  10. #40
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Sri Lankan court suspends Presidential Pardon given to Duminda Silva

    by Zulfick Farzan
    News 1

    Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday (31) issued an interim order suspending the Presidential Pardon given to Ex-MP Duminda Silva, who was on death row for the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

    Accordingly, the Supreme Court ordered for Duminda Silva be taken back into custody.

    The Supreme Court ordered the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department to take the necessary action to enforce the court order, and also ordered the Attorney General to assist and advise the CID on the matter.

    Further, the Supreme Court imposed an overseas travel ban on Duminda Silva as well.

    The orders were made by Supreme Court Justices P. Padman Surasena, Yasantha Kodagoda, and Achala Wengappulli who permitted the examination of three fundamental rights applications filed by Hirunika Premachandra, her mother Sumana Premachandra, and Former Human Rights Commissioner Ghazali Hussain, PC who challenged the Presidential Pardon given to Silva by the President.

    The examination of the applications will commence on the 1st of September.

    https://www.newsfirst.lk/2022/05/31/...duminda-silva/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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