Sri Lanka to hang 19 drug convicts

Sri Lanka will carry out the death sentence for 19 convicts over serious drug offences, the government said today, a day after the country decided to reinstate capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

Cabinet approval had been obtained to implement the death penalty on repeat offenders related to large scale drug offenses," said Cabinet spokesman and minister Rajitha Senaratne.

He said President Maithripala Sirisena will sign the documents to implement the death penalty.

This was following yesterday's unanimous Cabinet decision to reinstate capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

The Cabinet decision came despite Sri Lanka voting in favour of a UN moratorium on the death penalty.

Although capital punishment is in the statute of Sri Lanka, the country had stopped hangings since 1976 and death row prisoners spend life terms in jail.

Executions have not been carried out as successive presidents since 1978 have refused to issue death warrants.