Sri Lanka’s president has ordered the execution of four drug offenders, potentially ending a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment.

Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said on Wednesday that he had signed the death warrants, which had the dates of the executions, and sent the documents to prison authorities.

He said drugs had become a serious menace across the country and there were 300,000 addicts. According to Sirisena, 60% of 24,000 inmates had been jailed for drug-related offences.

Sri Lanka prisons are built to accommodate 11,000 people. The government last executed a prisoner in 1976 but there are 1,299 inmates on death row, including 48 convicted of drug offences.

Sri Lanka advertises for two hangmen as country resumes capital punishment Read more

Prison authorities are reportedly recruiting two hangmen after two others left without executing anyone. Twenty-six people had been shortlisted for the training and two would be selected, said Bandula Jayasinghe, an official at the justice and prison reforms ministry.



Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Sri Lanka. Authorities believe the country is used by peddlers as a transit hub. Drug-related arrests rose 2% in 2017 from the previous year, to 81,156.



Rights groups, foreign governments and the EU had previously criticised Sirisena’s suggestion of reviving the death penalty, saying there was no perfect criminal justice system and that the risk of executing an innocent person could never be eliminated.

Sirisena, who visited the Philippines in January, praised the crackdown on illegal drugs by the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, calling it “an example to the world”.

Thousands of suspects, mostly classed as urban poor people, have been killed since Duterte took office in 2016. Rights groups have denounced what they say are extrajudicial killings. Police state that most of the suspects were killed in encounters with officers.

Sri Lanka is predominantly Buddhist, a religion that advocates non-violence. Sirisena previously said the country benefited from positive influences from all religions but that tough law enforcement was necessary to curb crime and maintain order.



In April police publicly destroyed 770kg (1,695lb) of drugs seized in 2016 and 2017. Police have seized 731kg of heroin, 1kg of cocaine and 1,607kg of marijuana so far this year. Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in Sri Lanka, followed by heroin and cocaine.