Church leaders in Sri Lanka have added their voices to criticism of the government's decision to reinstate the death penalty last month after a High Court judge was shot dead in the capital, Colombo, by a suspected drug gang.

According to Ecumenical News International, the Protestant National Christian Council has joined human rights groups and the Catholic Center for Society and Religion in opposing the restoration of the penalty for rape, murder and drug dealing.

It was on Nov. 20 that President Chandrika Kumaratunga restored the penalty, a day after members of a suspected drug gang shot and killed high court judge Sarath Ambepitiya—a jurist known for his tough verdicts against gangsters and drug dealers.

Chairperson of the National Christian Council Anglican Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe said the government had acted hastily. "Churches stand for the affirmation of life," he said. Punishment handed down by courts should be "punitive and corrective rather than destructive".

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International criticized the move as a knee-jerk reaction by the government to the judge's murder and to increasing violence in the conflict between Sri Lanka's security forces and Tamil rebels.

In a statement, Amnesty International said there was no proof the death penalty was a more effective deterrent to crime than imprisonment.

"This is a negative response to the challenge," said Anslem Silva, director of the Catholic Center for Society and Religion.

Sources report that there have been no hangings in Sri Lanka since 1976 and while many drug smugglers and murders are on death row, their sentences were effectively commuted to life in prison.

According to the Associated Press, there are currently 49 condemned prisoners whose clemency appeals have been rejected. There are 152 others who have been sentenced to death, but whose appeals are pending.

The island's history of executions goes back to when Sri Lanka was the British colony known as Ceylon. The first hanging was held Feb. 11, 1884, at Welikada Prison, and the last was June 23, 1976, nearly 20 years after Sri Lanka achieved independence. Over that time, a total of 1,868 men and women were executed.

The sudden change in policy came with a sharp rise in crime on this island of 19 million people, AP reported. A civil war—now largely calmed by a cease-fire—has torn at the country since 1983, killing some 65,000 people and resulting in thousands of military desertions.




Kenneth Chan
Ecumenical Press