FEATURED POST

Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

Published
Image
The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
Post a Comment

Sri Lanka president vows to go ahead with 'Duterte Style" executions

Published
Sri Lanka flag
Annihilating drug peddlers and abusers have been handed over to the armed forces, said Sri Lanka’s president.

President Maithripala Sirisena made this shocking statement at a state sponsored drug abuse prevention programme in the southern town of Matara.

“I will implement the death penalty, soon,” he said amidst applause by the police chief and senior military officials among a large gathering of school children.

That will be executed by the Tri forces, Police and Civil Defence Force “to win it on a war footing, similar to the war to defeat Tamil Tigers” in 2009.

“I will, I have already assigned the task of destroying drug dealers in the same manner they destroyed LTTE terrorists.”

'Finishing off'


International bodies including the UN has repeatedly urged Sri Lanka to investigate its armed forces role in the war that claimed at least 70,000 civilian lives. 

Since his return from the Philippines a few weeks ago, President Sirisena has been pledging to follow on the footsteps of his counterpart in combating illegal drugs.

President Sirisena who has seen a steep drop in his popularity, hinted that the Philippines head of state gained better recognition since his bloody “war on drugs”.

“The president of Philippines managed to win the election only by something over 39%.” His first job  was to “finish off ” everybody who had anything to do with drugs, said President Sirisena.

Rodrigo Duterte has given police unprecedented powers to carry out drug-related raids and arrests, which has officially killed more than 5,000 people since 2016.

However, rights activists fear the real death toll could be up to 20,000.

Death penalty


The international criminal court (ICC) is carrying out a preliminary investigation into whether the extrajudicial killings constitute crimes against humanity.

Philippines human rights group iDefend said that if Sirisena was serious about following Duterte's lead, he should be ready to face scrutiny by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.

Human rights groups denouncing the death penalty drew heavy flak from President Sirisena.

He slammed them as Non-Governmental Organisations paid by drug traffickers.

Mangala Samaraweera a government minister known for his vocal opposition to the death penalty was seen warmly interacting with the president.

Sri Lanka voted in favour of a resolution on the “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty” during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) plenary sessions.

 Source: jdslanka.org, Athula Vithanage, January 31, 2019


⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Sri Lanka
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

Published
Image
The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
Read more

The Last 24 Hours on Death Row In America

Published
Image
It’s December 18th, 2024. In the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, a guard approaches one of the 200 cells in Death Row and finds a prisoner inside, sitting on the edge of his bed. It’s 3 p.m. Kevin Ray Underwood has 24 hours left to live. Not every state in the US allows – or uses – the death penalty. The ones that do all have different execution protocols. But generally speaking, the timeline features similar events with slight differences in the details.  These protocols can take months of preparation—all so that the day of execution is well… perfectly executed. 
Read more

North Carolina governor commutes death sentences of 15 inmates

Published
Image
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men on his final day in office. All 15 will still serve life sentences without the possibility of parole. RALEIGH, N.C. — In one of his final acts in office, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men convicted of murder to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, reducing the state's death row population by more than 10%.
Read more

Arizona | Inmate is asking to be executed sooner than the state wants

Published
Image
PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona death row prisoner asked the state’s highest court to skip legal formalities and schedule his execution earlier than authorities were aiming for, pushing as he had in the past to have his death sentence carried out. Aaron Brian Gunches’ execution would mark a resumption of Arizona’s use of the death penalty after a two-year pause while it reviewed its procedures. In a handwritten court filing this week, Gunches asked the state Supreme Court to schedule his execution for mid-February for his murder conviction in the 2002 killing of Ted Price.
Read more

Zimbabwe abolishes Death Penalty, prisoners on death row to be resentenced

Published
Image
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law the Death Penalty Abolition Act. Zimbabwe currently has over 60 prisoners on death row who will now have their sentences commuted. The last execution in the country was nearly two decades ago in 2005. Parliament had pushed to amend the Criminal Law Code, Criminal Procedure Law and the Defence Act which allowed the death penalty in cases of murder committed under aggravating circumstances.
Read more

Iran executes three Afghan nationals on first day of 2025

Published
Image
Iran executed three Afghan nationals on the first day of 2025 at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, according to two human rights watchdog organizations. Halvash reported that Iran executed two individuals from Afghanistan and one Baloch national in Bandar Abbas prison. They were executed without holding a last meeting with their families, the watchdog said. Another human rights watchdog, Henvaw, reported the execution of an Afghan national.
Read more

Tennessee refuses to release its new execution manual

Published
Image
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Just days after Tennessee announced it had a new manual for executing death row inmates, the state's top prison officials said they aren't going to release the document to the public. The Tennessee Department of Correction had told The Associated Press to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the latest execution manual, known as a protocol. However, the agency this week denied the AP's request, saying it needs to keep the entire document secret to protect the identities of the executioner and other people involved.
Read more

After holiday pause, South Carolina begins scheduling executions again

Published
Image
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s Supreme Court set a Jan. 31 date for the state’s next execution after allowing a pause for the Christmas holidays. The state is working through a backlog of inmates out of appeals but temporarily spared because prison officials couldn’t obtain drugs needed for lethal injection. Marion Bowman Jr., 44, was convicted of murder in the shooting of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of her car in Dorchester County in 2001.
Read more

China | Man sentenced to death for ramming car into crowd, killing 35

Published
Image
62-year-old man drove his car into crowds, killing 35 people on Nov. 11 A Chinese court sentenced a 62-year-old man to death on Friday for a deadly car-ramming incident that killed 35 people and injured 43 others, according to state media. The Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court found Fan Weiqiu guilty of endangering public safety after he deliberately drove his car into crowds exercising outside a sports complex on Nov. 11, 2024 in southern China's Guangdong Province, Xinhua reported.
Read more

France officially asks Indonesia to transfer Serge Atlaoui

Published
Image
French diplomats have acknowledged that talks were underway for the transfer of the 61-year-old Frenchman arrested in 2005 at a drugs factory. JAKARTA: France has sent Indonesia an official request for the transfer of a French death row inmate who has spent nearly 20 years in prison, an Indonesian minister told AFP on Saturday. Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mum on death row and the last five members of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring.
Read more