FEATURED POST

Biden Has 65 Days Left in Office. Here’s What He Can Do on Criminal Justice.

Published
Image
Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark. Donald Trump’s second presidential term will begin on Jan. 20, bringing with it promises to dramatically reshape many aspects of the criminal justice system. The U.S. Senate — with its authority over confirming judicial nominees — will also shift from Democratic to Republican control.
Post a Comment

Sri Lanka | Authorities send list of 260 death row inmates to president for commuting their sentences

Published
Prison authorities in Sri Lanka have sent a list of 260 death row prisoners to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for commuting their sentences to life terms, a senior minister said on Friday, a day after over 175 prisoners went on hunger strike following the pardon and release of a former parliamentarian facing capital punishment after a political killing.

Over 175 prisoners from the main prison here and at the Mahara prison, north of Colombo, on death row went on a hunger strike from Thursday, demanding that either they be hanged or their sentences be commuted to life terms.

The hunger strike was triggered by Rajapaksa's decision to grant a presidential pardon to Duminda Silva, a former parliamentarian from the ruling SLPP who was sentenced to death after a political killing in 2011.

While responding to the protest by the prisoners, State Minister of Prison Reforms Lohan Ratwatte said the list sent to the president was of 260 death row prisoners.

"There was a committee report about the death row prisoners. That report was handed to the minister," Chandana Ekanayake, the prison spokesman, said.

Silva''s pardoning caused much controversy with the lawyers'' body- Bar Association of Sri Lanka- questioning if the proper legal discourse had been followed.

Silva was set free from Welikada Prison on Thursday.

The former parliamentarian and 12 others were accused of 17 charges, including the murder of his political rival and another lawmaker Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and four others in 2011. 

A special 3-member panel of High Court judges acquitted seven suspects and sentenced five, including Silva, to death in 2016.

Silva was released in addition to 93 prisoners, including 16 LTTE terror suspects, who were also pardoned by the president.

The UN Human Rights body and the US Ambassador in Colombo were critical of Silva''s pardoning as an instance of questionable nature of the rule of law.

Sri Lanka supported the UN moratorium on death penalty. 

The country has not hanged anyone since 1976. Death sentences are commuted to life terms.


 June 27 UPDATE:  Sri Lankan death row prisoners end hunger strike

Death row prisoners in Sri Lanka, who were on a hunger strike demanding commutation of their sentences, similar to the Presidential pardon extended to a former parliamentarian facing capital punishment earlier in the week, have ended their protest after official assurances of representation, authorities said on Saturday.

Over 175 prisoners on death row from the Main Welikada Prison here and the Mahara Prison in north Colombo started a hunger strike on Thursday, demanding that either they be hanged or their sentences be commuted to life terms.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Prisons Spokesman Chandana Ekanayake said the striking death row prisoners have ended their protest.

'Yesterday, the Secretary to the State Ministry of Prisons visited them (the prisoners) and informed them on the official interventions on their behalf,' Ekanayake said.

The hunger strike was triggered by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision to grant a presidential pardon to Duminda Silva, a former parliamentarian from the ruling SLPP who was sentenced to death after a political killing in 2011.

Source: outlookindia.com, Staff, June 25, 2021


🚩 | 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 Has 65 Days Left in Office. Here’s What He Can Do on Criminal Justice.

Published
Image
Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark. Donald Trump’s second presidential term will begin on Jan. 20, bringing with it promises to dramatically reshape many aspects of the criminal justice system. The U.S. Senate — with its authority over confirming judicial nominees — will also shift from Democratic to Republican control.
Read more

Saudi Arabia executed more than 100 foreigners in 2024: AFP tally

Published
Image
Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally indicating a sharp increase which one rights group said was unprecedented. The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. That brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, according to the tally which is compiled from state media reports.
Read more

Trial Judge Declares Melissa Lucio to be ​“Actually Innocent,” Recommends Texas CCA Overturn Conviction and Death Sentence

Published
Image
Texas death-sentenced prisoner Melissa Lucio is “actually innocent; she did not kill her [two-year-old] daughter,” explained Judge Arturo Nelson in his October 16th decision, which was made public on November 14, 2024.  Judge Nelson’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law now go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), which will make the final decision about whether to overturn Ms. Lucio’s conviction and 2008 death sentence. 
Read more

To U.S. Death Row Inmates, Today's Election is a Matter of Life or Death

Published
Image
You don't have to tell Daniel Troya and the 40 other denizens of federal death row locked in shed-sized solitary cells for 23 hours a day, every day, that elections have consequences. To them, from inside the U.S. government's only death row located in Terre Haute, Indiana, Tuesday's election is quite literally a matter of life and death: If Kamala Harris wins, they live; if Donald Trump wins, they die. "He's gonna kill everyone here that he can," Troya, 41, said in an email from behind bars. "That's as easy to predict as the sun rising."
Read more

Singapore | Imminent unlawful execution for drug trafficking

Published
Image
Ahead of the scheduled execution of a man for drug-related offences, in violation of international law and standards, in Singapore on Friday 22 November, Amnesty International’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said:  “The upcoming execution of Rosman bin Abdullah underlines the chilling determination of the Singapore authorities to continue to implement the death penalty. Singapore is among a handful of countries still executing people for drug-related offences, in violation of international human rights law and standards. This must stop immediately. 
Read more

Iran | Group Hanging of 10 Including a Woman in Ghezel Hesar Prison; Protest Outside Prison Violently Crushed

Published
Image
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 16, 2024: At least nine people including a woman, an Afghan national and two Kurdish minorities were executed for murder and drug-related charges in Ghezel Hesar Prison on Wednesday.  Ahmad Alizadeh was previously reported to have been executed that day, bringing the total number of people executed that day to ten. At least five others have been transferred for execution.
Read more

Mary Jane Veloso to return to Philippines after 14-year imprisonment in Indonesia

Published
Image
BACK IN 2010, overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia. She was convicted of drug trafficking after being caught carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in Yogyakarta. She was then given the death penalty despite pleading innocence – saying that she was only a victim of human trafficking.  Initially, she started working as an OFW to give her children a better life. As per her lawyer Agus Salim, she had gone to Dubai to work as a domestic helper, but returned to Manila before the end of her contract because she was allegedly almost raped.
Read more

Texas Supreme Court Rules that a New Execution Date Can be Set for Robert Roberson

Published
Image
In a November 15, 2024, ruling, the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to reschedule the execution of Robert Roberson, despite compelling evidence of his innocence and widespread support for a new trial.  Mr. Roberson was scheduled to be executed October 17, but on October 16 the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena for Mr. Roberson to testify on a day after his execution was to occur. A district court temporarily halted the execution so that Mr. Roberson could testify, and the state appealed.
Read more