Lanka interviews 47 potential hangmen

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Wednesday began interviewing 47 applicants for two positions as hangmen, officials said, as Amnesty International urged Colombo not to bring back capital punishment.

President Maithripala Sirisena announced in February that Sri Lanka would end a 43-year moratorium on executions this month in a Philippines-inspired war on drugs. Am official said that 47 male applicants would be interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday, after the government advertised the vacancies in February. But the successful candidates may face a delay in carrying out their new role.

"Since there is no living person in Sri Lanka who has carried out an execution, we need to send the new recruits abroad for training," the official, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP, adding that Colombo was also yet to identify a country to provide training. "The rope (used for hangings) has not been used at all since it was imported (in 2015), it will have to be tested and certified."

Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile said resuming hangings would not end drug-related crime and that innocent people could be executed due to flaws in Sri Lanka's criminal justice system.