the assassination of a Sri Lankan judge...

the assassination of a Sri Lankan judge two weeks previously had put pressure on President Chandrika Kumaratunga to consider signing death warrants and start hanging death-row inmates for the first time in 28 years. The murder of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya rocked the Buddhist nation and saw lawyers and judges demanding that existing death penalty convictions be carried out as a message to deter violent crime. The government responded by announcing the "death penalty will be effective from today (November 20) for rape, murder and narcotics dealings." But similar declarations had been made on four previous occasions since 1999 by successive governments as a vote catching exercise and political observers expect the same this time. Although executions have not been carried out since 1976, Sri Lankan courts have continued to hand down death sentences with the public supporting the ultimate penalty because of rising crime. Kumaratunga went on national television last week saying she was personally against bringing back capital punishment, but felt people wanted it restored.
"I don't believe in taking a life for a life," Kumaratunga said. "I don't want to sign the death warrant of anyone... but a vast majority of people in this country want it." The president has not specifically said she will sign any pending death warrants. International rights group Amnesty International has asked the Colombo government to keep the death-penalty moratorium in place.
"Amnesty International urges the president and government to search for other solutions to address criminality and to withdraw plans to reactivate the death penalty," the organisation said after Colombo's latest announcement. Government spokesman Mangala Samaraweera, who is also minister for Ports, Information and Media, said three men convicted for murdering a customs officer may be the first to be hanged if the president decides to resume executions.
"A vast majority of people feel that the death penalty should be brought back," Samaraweera said adding that the three men's death penalty conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court last week and that they would "probably" hang.
The country's two gallows have been gathering dust since the last execution. Prison authorities say that if the death warrants are signed, however, they can begin executions quickly. "We have a hangman, but he has not been doing any work," said Prison Commissioner-General Rumy Marzook.
"If the government wants us to start, we can be ready very quickly. We need to get two sets of rope for the two gallows."
He said there were 49 convicts on death row. Another 152 condemned prisoners are appealing their convictions while remaining hopeful that the death sentences would be commuted to a life term in jail. Police Inspector General Chandra Fernando said he was worried about the increase in the brutality of crime.
"The crime rate itself is fluctuating from year to year, but what I am more concerned about is the increasing brutality," Fernando told AFP.
"We lack men and resources to deal with this problem."