175 prisoners lodged in Sri Lanka’s jail are on hunger strike. These prisoners have been sentenced to death. They are demanding to reduce their punishment.
Prisoners on hunger strike in Sri Lankan prison (symbolic photo)
A section of death row prisoners agitating in Sri Lanka has started a hunger strike. These prisoners ended the hunger strike after the official assurance that the sentence would be reduced. The officials gave this information. 175 prisoners lodged and sentenced to death in the Main Velikada Jail and Mahara Jail in the capital Colombo began a hunger strike on Thursday.
Their demand is that either they should be hanged or their death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment. Some of the agitating prisoners called off the protest on Saturday after some inmates of Velikada Jail had assured a solution to the problem. Jail spokesperson Chandana Eknayke said that they have resumed the protest.
Controversy started after the release of former MP
“When he was informed that a solution was being sought by the competent authorities, he got down from the roof of the jail and ended his protest,” Eknayke said. He told that the prisoners have gone to the terrace again. Eknayake had said on Saturday that the secretary of the prison ministry met the protesters and informed them about official intervention on their part.
The strike began soon after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon a politician from the ruling party. This politician was sentenced to death in 2011 for a political murder. Silva’s clemency was highly controversial. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka raised the question and said that proper legal process has not been followed in this. Silva was released on Thursday.
93 prisoners released in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka released 93 prisoners on Thursday. These include 16 suspected LTTE terrorists, who were arrested without any charges. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was released on Thursday after pardoning him on the occasion of ‘Poson Poya’. ‘Poson Poya’ is an annual festival celebrated by the Buddhist majority of Sri Lanka to mark the arrival of Buddhism in the country.
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