COLOMBO – Leader of the Opposition and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sajith Premadasa, wants the death penalty imposed on charges pertaining to terrorism and drug trafficking, à la Singapore.
“Singapore gives the best penalties for terrorism and drug trafficking. We will not deviate from that position, but the judicial process must be transparent, fair and free of influence,” Premadasa said Wednesday (28).
He was speaking to reporters outside the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Colombo, where SJB MP Harin Fernando was being questioned over a speech he had made on the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
Premadasa claimed that the government, rather than punishing proven terrorists, wanted to pay for their upkeep with taxpayer money.
“Is this the solution our country has for those proven to have carried out terrorist activities,” he asked?
Sri Lanka has an ongoing de facto moratorium on capital punishment that goes back 45 years, with the last execution carried out in 1976.
Hundreds have been sentenced to death since then, though the punishment has not been carried out.
Plans by former President Maithriapala Sirisena to reinstate capital punishment in June 2019 were met with widespread criticism both locally and internationally.
“Sri Lanka’s plan to resume use of the death penalty is a major setback for human rights,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of the Human Rights Watch in June 2019, noting that Sri Lanka has been a bulwark against capital punishment in Asia for more than four decades/
President Sirisena ordered the execution of four convicted drug traffickers, but the Supreme Court in October 2019 extended a previous interim order on the death penalty, effectively preventing the then president’s attempt.
Premadasa, who was a prominent minister in Sirisena’s Yahapalana government, though representing the rival United National Party (UNP), publicly expressed his support for the reinstatement of capital punishment in Sri Lanka.
As recently as October 2020, the SJB leader called it an “urgent need” of the hour.
-economynext.com