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AFP
Colombo
Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it would start hanging drug criminals, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to"replicate the success"of the Philippines drug war.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs since coming to power in 2016 has left thousands of people dead and prompted allegations of crimes against humanity.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told the cabinet he"was ready to sign the death warrants"of repeat drug offenders and deploy the military to tackle drug crime, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
"From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,"Rajitha Senaratne said.
