Two of the convicted are ex-soldiers. Of them, one was found guilty for gunning down five persons including two Muslim women with an automatic rifle issued to him by the government.
These persons are to be hanged on a date fixed by the President. However, the death penalty is not enacted by the President of Sri Lanka. Over 250 condemned persons are in the death row in prisons with an uncertain future while the Buddhist clergy and politicians are urging the government to enact death penalty to curb the spate of violence in the country.
Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda recently said he would discuss the possibility of implementing the death penalty with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
On the same day the three death sentences were delivered, a woman was arrested in connection with brutally hacking to death her 27-year old daughter-in-law with five-month pregnancy in the Central Province Mathale district..
It is great that the perpetrators have been caught and are now in the death row but at the same time I feel disappointed the offenders will never be hanged but continue to be a burden on the public purse until they are in prison.
ReplyDeleteMay I point out one instance in your above article that shows unconscious racism is rampant in Sri Lankan media? Re: second paragraph, why did the writer think it fit to highlight the fact the victims were Muslim women? What difference does it make if they were Muslims, Tamils or Burghers? The fact is that the vistoms were innocent women who did not deserve to die. How does referring to the victims as 'Muslims' add value to the article?