Colombo: Sri Lankan prison authorities are recruiting two hangmen after the president pledged to end a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment and execute condemned drug traffickers amid alarm over drug-related crime in this Indian Ocean island nation. Interviews of the candidates will be conducted next month and two will be hired, prison department spokesman Upuldeniya said.
The advertisement that appeared in the state-run Daily News on Monday said applicants should have “an excellent moral character” and should pass a test conducted to check the “mind and mental strength.” The candidates must be Sri Lankan men between 18 and 45. Their monthly salary would be Sri Lankan rupees 36,410 (USD 203). The move to hire hangmen comes after President Sirisena said executions will resume in the next two months for condemned drug traffickers, vowing to be tough on drug offenders and modelling his country’s drug fight after the Philippines.
