Prisoners' death sentences to be reduced to life terms

COLOMBO (News1st): Death sentences handed out to convicts after 1998, excluding notorious drug criminals, will be reduced to life terms, the state prisons ministry has said. This would be done under the provisions of granting presidential pardons. Meanwhile, death sentences or life imprisonment terms imposed on convicts after 1998 will also be made lenient, the state ministry said in a statement. The government has decided to establish four new appeal courts to expedite the review of sentences and reduce overcrowding in prisons. This decision had been made considering the growing numbers of prisoners who have appealed against their sentences.