Sri-Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Wednesday that he is willing to sign on the death warrants of repeat drug criminals, reported the Inquirer.
“From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” Rajitha Senaratne, government spokesman, said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on drugs in 2016, which prompted Sri-Lanka to “replicate its success”, said the report.
“We were told that the Philippines has been successful in deploying the army and dealing with this problem. We will try to replicate their success,” Senaratne said.
Senaratne added that 19 large-scale drug traffickers have been handed down the death sentence.
The death penalty was last enforced in Sri Lanka in 1976.
