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Dead rope coming, but President says hang it
By Shanika Udawatte
While the Prisons Department is trying to buy special ropes to hang people, President Chandrika Kumaratunga will oppose moves by the government to re-implement the death penalty, a spokesman said.

Presidential spokesman Harim Peiris said the President believed the constitution guaranteed the right to life and thus the state had no right to execute anyone. He said many developed countries had scrapped the death penalty and President Kumaratunga felt it should be scrapped in Sri Lanka also.

Meanwhile, several human rights activists, too, are opposing the idea of reactivating the gallows. Sri Lankan representatives of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said that the United States had a high crime rate despite implementing the death penalty.

They said that long-term crime prevention methods such as improving the standards of life of the people should be implemented rather than the death penalty.

While the life or death battle grows, the Prisons Department has already called for tenders to provide the required rope to carry out the death penalty. A prisons spokesman said an Indonesian company had made an offer to supply three ropes -- at a fancy price of Rs. 100,000 each.

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