COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan lawmaker has submitted a bill to abolish the death penalty while the president has sanctioned the hanging of four drug convicts.
Lawmaker Bandula Lal Bandarigoda said Friday the bill seeks to abolish the death sentence for the future and commute the sentences of those who are already on death row to life imprisonment.
The bill seems to be a move by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to stop the planned executions, which are now stayed by the courts.
Sri Lanka's president and prime minister have fallen out and become rival power centers within the government.
Sri Lanka has followed a moratorium on the death penalty since 1976.
The bill submitted on Thursday will be taken for a vote in 14 days if no one challenges it.