Sri Lanka's president said Wednesday (26) he has signed death warrants for four condemned drug offenders to become the first people to be executed on the island in decades "very soon".
Maithripala Sirisena said he has completed formalities to end 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.
He did not say when the executions would be carried out, only that it would be "very soon".
An official in Sirisena's office said the president wanted the hangings to be a powerful message to the illegal drugs trade.
Sirisena said there were 200,000 drug addicts in the country and 60 percent of the 24,000 prison population were drug offenders.
His remarks came a day after Amnesty International said it was "alarmed" over media reports of preparations to resume executions.
"Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena must immediately halt his plans to resume executions...," Amnesty said in a statement.
Sirisena in February announced the country would carry out the first executions in decades, saying he had been inspired by President Rodrigo Duterte's strongarm campaign in the Philippines.
The president has also appealed to human rights organisations not to pressure him.
Criminals in Sri Lanka are regularly handed death sentences for murder, rape and drug-related crimes but since 1976 their punishments have been commuted to life imprisonment.
The country however currently has no executioner.
The justice ministry said more than a dozen people had been shortlisted to fill the vacancy, but no formal appointment has been made.
While Sri Lanka's last execution was more than four decades ago, an executioner was in post until his retirement in 2014. Three replacements since have quit after short stints at the unused gallows.
(AFP)
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)