President Maithripala Sirisena signed death warrants for four prisoners convicted of drug offences on 26 June, saying executions would deter trafficking and end a moratorium that had held since 1976. Cannabis was not one of the drugs that carried a death sentence, so the warrants concerned other substances. No execution followed, and the moratorium held.[1][2][3]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Sri Lanka here.
References
- Al Jazeera — Sri Lanka president signs death warrants to end moratorium (26 June 2019)Four warrants; moratorium since 1976; no executioner appointed.
- Human Rights Watch — Sri Lanka: Resuming Death Penalty a Major Setback (30 June 2019)Four drug offenders; 1,299 people on death row, including 48 convicted of drug crimes.
- Oxford Law Blogs — Five decades without executions: Sri Lanka’s suspended death penalty (22 July 2025)Last execution June 1976; death penalty retained for drug offences; no execution since.
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.