DETAINED ABROAD

Which offences carry the death penalty in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka retains the death penalty but has observed a de facto moratorium on executions since 1976. Courts continue to impose death sentences, and during 2024 Amnesty International recorded at least 25 new death sentences. The moratorium is not legally entrenched – it is maintained through executive practice and is subject to reversal by presidential decision. Sri Lankan leaders have at times threatened to resume executions, most recently in 2019 when execution warrants were signed and two hangmen were recruited, before the moratorium was ultimately preserved. 

Sri Lankan law does not limit the death penalty to the most serious crimes as required under the ICCPR. Capital punishment is available under several statutes. 

Under the Penal Code (Ordinance No. 2 of 1883, as amended):

• • Murder — mandatory death sentence upon conviction. No judicial discretion to impose a lesser sentence exists at the point of conviction, though the sentence must ultimately be authorised by the President before any execution can be carried out.
  • Waging war against the state, including attempts and abetting such actions
  • Mutiny of a military officer
  • Perjury that results in the conviction and execution of an innocent person

• Abetting suicide

• Rape and other sexual offences — introduced or expanded under the Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 2006

Under the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Chapter 218, as amended by Act No. 13 of 1984):

• Manufacturing heroin, cocaine, morphine or opium — death or life imprisonment
• Trafficking, importing or exporting more than the legislatively prescribed quantity of specified dangerous drugs — death or life imprisonment.

Under the Firearms Ordinance (as amended by Act No. 22 of 1996):

• Certain drug offences committed with the use of a firearm attract death or life imprisonment
• Armed robbery and certain other serious offences committed with firearms can also attract the death penalty^{[14]Penal Code Ordinance No. 2 of 1883 (as amended by Act No. 16 of 2006 and Act No. 25 of 2021). https://www.srilankalaw.lk/p/878-penal-code-ordinance.html; Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Chapter 218), as amended by Act No. 13 of 1984. https://www.parliament.lk/uploads/acts/gbills/english/3201.pdf; Firearms Ordinance (as amended by Act No. 22 of 1996); Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Sri Lanka. https://dpw.lawschool.cornell.edu; World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Sri Lanka. https://worldcoalition.org/pays/sri-lanka/; Oxford Law Blogs, ‘Five decades without executions: Sri Lanka’s suspended death penalty’ (July 2025). https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalty-research-unit-blog/blog-post/2025/07/five-decades-without-executions-sri-lankas; Amnesty International, Sri Lanka: Halt Preparations to Resume Executions (2019). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1150296/dl}

What additional protections apply to a foreign national facing a capital charge?

Exemptions from the death penalty

• Anyone who was under 18 years of age at the time the offence was committed (Penal Code amendment, October 2021 — previously the relevant date was age at conviction, a gap that the HRCSL documented as having resulted in juvenile offenders being sentenced to death)
• Women who are pregnant at the time of conviction, who must instead receive life imprisonment or a fixed term
• The Penal Code covers “unsoundness of mind,” absolving a person of criminal responsibility if they could not understand the nature of their act at the time of the crime.

Protections available to all accused in capital proceedings

• Right to legal representation — all capital cases are tried in the High Court. Under sections 195(g) and 260 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979, the court must assign counsel to any unrepresented accused. A foreign national without a lawyer should be appointed one at state expense.
• Right to an interpreter — under section 275 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, evidence must be interpreted to an accused who does not understand the language used. No equivalent right exists at the investigative stage, meaning a foreign national questioned by police without an interpreter has no statutory protection; a statement obtained in those circumstances should be challenged.
• Consular notification and access — under the Consular Functions (Amendment) Act No. 18 of 2006, authorities must notify the relevant consular post forthwith upon arrest. In a capital case, the consulate can assist in engaging private counsel, organising mitigation investigations, obtaining home-country documentation, and making diplomatic representations at the commutation stage.
• Mitigating factors — although murder carries a mandatory death sentence at conviction, the President must authorise any execution under the Constitution. Mitigation evidence (such as mental health, age, background, and circumstances of the offence) is relevant at this stage and should be compiled and presented by the defence counsel and the consulate.^{[15]Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979. https://www.commonlii.org/lk/legis/num_act/cocpa15o1979276/index.html; Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1978, art 34. https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf; Consular Functions (Amendment) Act No. 18 of 2006. https://documents.gov.lk/view/acts/2006/5/18-2006_E.pdf; Penal Code Ordinance No. 2 of 1883, as amended by Act No. 25 of 2021. https://www.srilankalaw.lk/p/878-penal-code-ordinance.html; International Bureau for Justice (IBJ), Sri Lanka Criminal Defence Practice Manual (2020). https://www.ibj.org/wp_main/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/English-4.pdf}

Can evidence or documentation from a foreign national’s home country be submitted in proceedings?

Yes. The Evidence Ordinance of 1895 (as amended) contains no blanket prohibition on foreign-origin evidence. The following rules apply:

• Authentication — foreign official documents must be authenticated by a competent authority in the country of origin. Sri Lanka is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so full legalisation through the embassy or consulate chain is required.
• Translation — documents not in Sinhala, Tamil, or English must be accompanied by a certified translation.
• Expert evidence — foreign specialists (forensic psychologists, medical experts, country conditions experts) may give evidence subject to the court’s general rules on expert witnesses.

Foreign documentation is most valuable in mitigation submissions to the sentencing judge and in commutation petitions to the President. Relevant material includes mental health records, age verification, evidence of intellectual disability, and character references. The consulate is the most practical channel for obtaining, authenticating, and transmitting documentation from abroad. There is no state-funded mechanism to assist with this process.

While the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act No. 25 of 2002 allows for state-to-state evidence gathering, this is generally a tool for the prosecution (the State) rather than a resource for the defense to gather mitigation materials. Consequently, the burden of organising foreign evidence for the defense falls almost entirely on private counsel and the consulate.^{[16]Evidence Ordinance (Chapter 14) (Sri Lanka). https://lankalaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Evidence-Ordinance-Consolidated-2024.pdf}

What pardon or clemency mechanisms are available?

Under Article 34 of the Constitution, the President has broad discretion to pardon, commute, or remit any sentence. This applies to all convicted persons including foreign nationals, across all offences. No execution can proceed without presidential authorisation under Section 286 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act. 

A petition for commutation or pardon may be submitted to the President’s office.While there is no prescribed form or procedure, in practice, petitions are supported by:

• The trial record and sentencing submissions
• Evidence of mitigating factors (health, age, circumstances of the offence)
• Representations from defence counsel
• Diplomatic representations from the foreign national’s consulate or government — often the most effective lever available to foreign nationals

The pardon process has been criticised for a lack of transparency. International monitors note that pardons are often granted arbitrarily and can be influenced by political considerations rather than a formal assessment of the case’s merits.^{[17]Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1978, art 34. https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf; Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979, ss 286(b)–(c), 311–312. https://www.commonlii.org/lk/legis/num_act/cocpa15o1979276/index.html; Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, National Study of Prisons (December 2020); Ambika Satkunanathan, ‘Submission to Secretary-General’s Report on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty’ (3 May 2022). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1150296/dl; Human Rights Watch, ‘Sri Lanka: Death Sentence for Prison Official’ (17 January 2022). https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/17/sri-lanka-death-sentence-prison-official}