The president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday revealed that he has signed death warrants of four Nigerians convicted for drug-related offences.
This would make them the first people to be executed on the island in decades.
The president made it known that
Maithripala Sirisena said formalities have been completed — Ending a 42-year-old moratorium on the death penalty which he has said is needed to clamp down on a rampant narcotics trade.
“I have signed the death warrants of four. They have not been told yet. We don’t want to announce the names yet because that could lead to unrest in prisons,” Sirisena told reporters at his official residence.
According to a government official, the president said the aim of the execution is to send a strong message to the illegal drugs trade.
Sirisena who didn’t say when the execution will be, however, revealed that the country has over 200,000 drug addicts and 60 percent of the 24,000 prison population were drug offenders.
