Sirisena vows to implement death penalty within 3 months

by Sivakami
Feb 7, 2019
<p>Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena, yesterday vowed that "come what may" he would implement the death penalty within "2-3 months".&nbsp;</p> <p>Over recent months Sirisena has repeatedly reiterated his plans to reintroduced the death penalty for those convicted of drug trafficking, despite international outcry and warns of interventions.&nbsp;</p> <blockquote><p> “We need stringent laws to make a law abiding and spiritual society,” Sirisena told parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The country is now proliferated with various drugs including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and ice."</p> <p>"Come what may I will put into practice the decision I took to implement the death penalty within next two to three months." </p></blockquote> <p>Sirisena has consistently rejected any criticism of his plans and pledged to replicate the Philippines president's brutal 'war on drugs' in Sri Lanka.&nbsp;</p> <p>Last month, he said&nbsp;he would not reverse his decision to implement capital punishment, telling an audience in Mullaitivu that he had no “fear of NGOs”.</p> <p>Speaking at a police awards ceremony last week, he&nbsp;called on the island to wage a war on drugs in a “similar manner” to the massive military offensive a decade ago that killed tens of thousands of Tamils and saw large scale violations of international law.</p> <p>He was&nbsp;<u><a href="http://www.pmdnews.lk/%E0%B6%B8%E0%B6%AD%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%8A%E2%…">quoted</a></u>&nbsp;as saying, ”to save the nation from brutal drug smugglers a war must be conducted in a similar manner as the war against the ruthless terrorism that lasted 30 years.”</p>

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button