List of drug traffickers on death row forwarded to President

The list of names of prisoners sentenced to death for drug trafficking were to be handed over to President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday, Justice Ministry sources said.

“The list was compiled following a directive issued by the President”, Ministry sources said. President Maithripala Sirisena said on July 11 that he had decided to sign the death warrant on prisoners sentenced to death on drug offences continuing the drug trafficking racket from their prison cells.

Implementing the death sentence was also discussed at length at the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Prisons Department said discussions would be held shortly with the Justice Ministry for making necessary arrangements to implement the death sentence on convicts.

Commissioner General of Prisons Nishan Dhanasinghe said several immediate measures needed to be taken to facilitate the implementation of the death sentence on prisoners. “For instance, the Executioner post is vacant and it had to be filled urgently,” he said.