Prisons Department gets 102 applications for executioner’s post

Chamikara WEERASINGHE-Friday, March 1, 2019

The Prisons Department had received 102 applications for the executioner’s post advertised with the deadline ending on February 25, Justice Ministry spokesman Nalin Rajapaksa said yesterday.

Two women were among the applicants. An American native is among the 101 men applied for the post, Rajapakhsa said. “The Ministry and the Prisons Department will not release information of any of the applicants and put their lives at risk,” he said.

Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala has instructed the Ministry and Prisons Department to ensure the security of the applicants.

The Justice Ministry advertised the executioner’s post in newspapers after President Maithripala Sirisena had vowed to resume the death penalty for drug criminals as part of a hard-line anti-drugs crackdown inspired by the Philippines. The President has maintained consistently that he will enforce capital punishment and will use strong-arm tactics in dealing with illegal drugs.

Rajapaksa said, the Prisons Department and Justice Ministry had yet to process the candidates’ applications. The department will soon hold interviews for them.

The ministry will recruit two persons for the executioner posts at the Prisons Department following the interviews.

The Prisons Department had called for applications for the executioner’s post after four decades since a moratorium was imposed on capital punishment in 1976. The department’s advertisement says that “selected candidates will be referred to a test conducted at the National Hospital to check their mental strength.”

The Justice Ministry said it would go through the applications and would not give a timeline as to when the appointment will be made.

There are 400 convicts on death row, according to Prisons Commissioner Thushara Upuldeniya.

The Justice Ministry has completed administrative procedures for the execution of five drug convicts.The President has yet to sign a death warrant of a drug criminal.