SRI LANKA: 357 PRISONERS ON DEATH ROW

September 19, 2011: there were 357 prisoners on death row at the moment with some having served over 15 years while waiting for their sentences to be carried out, Commissioner General of Prisons P. W. Kodippili said. Though successive governments have failed to carry out a hanging since 1976 several persons had received death sentences from time to time. Kodippili said that the post of hangman had fallen vacant and applications would be called from interested persons to fill this vacancy as soon as possible. “Persons who have studied up to Grade 8 as the minimum education qualification could apply for this post. It is a post similar to a Karyala Karya Sahayaka (KKS) or office assistant,” he said. Questioned as to why the post had fallen vacant as no executions had been carried out for decades, he said, “The capital punishment is there in the books. If the government takes a policy decision to carry out executions, we have to be ready for it. Therefore, we have to fill this vacancy now.” (Sources: Daily Mirror, 20/09/2011)