Sri Lankan prisoners undergo hunger strike to demand commuting of sentence
Colombo, May 24 ANI: Sri Lankan prisoners on a death row or serving life term are undergoing a hunger strike to persuade the government to set them free or commute their sentence. Around 600 prisoners at Columbo's Welikada jail and reportedly at two other prisons outside Colombo, had refused food on Monday. The head of the prisons service, Maj-Gen V.R. de Silva, said that more than 600 inmates at the Welikada prison had refused food on Monday morning. Twenty staged demonstrations on the prison roof. He said the prisoners are convicted of crimes including murder, rape and drug trafficking, The BBC News reports. The protestors are reportedly unhappy over not been included in general amnesty, implemented for offenders a week ago. Despite several prisoners on a death row, Sri Lanka has failed to execute capital punishment since 1977. The future of the prisoners is uncertain given the fact the Sri Lankan government has suspended a process of regularly commuting sentences. Though the government has set up a committee to examine every individual's case, but Silva has warned that a solution could not be found overnight. ANI
Posted by aniin on Thursday May 26  reply


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