Sri Lankan president signs death penalty for 4 convicts

By Maimaitiming Yilixiati

ANKARA (AA) - Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday approved a rare death penalty for four death row prisoners convicted of drug offenses, local media reported.

The last execution in Sri Lanka took place 43 years ago.

“The date has been set. I have informed the relevant authorities,” Maithripala Sirisena told reporters in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, news portal Colombo Gazette reported.

Amnesty International expressed outrage at the move urging the president to withdraw his decision.

Biraj Patnaik, South Asia director at Amnesty International, said: “At a time when other countries have come to the realization that their drug control policies are in need of reform, and are taking steps to reduce the use of the death penalty, Sri Lanka is bucking the trend."

Sirisena is under pressure to take solid and urgent steps to combat rising crime in the country following Easter bombings which killed more than 200 people in April. He is biding for re-election later this year.