Sri Lanka To Resume Death Penalty

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  -- The government has decided to resume executions after a 24-year moratorium to fight rising levels of crime, a government official said Wednesday. Prison chiefs have been ordered to ready the gallows as 55 prisoners have been sentenced to death in the island nation, the official said on condition of anonymity. No time frame, however, has been set for when executions might start. A moratorium was declared in 1977 and no executions have been carried out since then, though courts have continued to issue death sentences since the punishment remained on the statute books.

The president's office said in March 1999 it would resume executions, but none took place. The decision to end the moratorium drew protests from London-based Amnesty International. ``Death penalty is a brutalizing punishment, ineffective and a gross human rights violation,'' the human rights group said in a statement. ``It is not possible for a country to execute prisoners and fully respect human rights at the same time.'' Sri Lanka -- with a population of 18.6 million -- has been seeing a rise in crime. Less than two weeks ago, 10 masked men stormed a beach resort and killed its German owner and raped a woman.