<p class="title">Sri Lanka's president has said people who have been sentenced to death for drug crimes but were not executed because of a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment will soon have the sentences carried out.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government's official web site says in a statement that President Maithripala Sirisena will order the executions soon but did not say how the prisoners would be executed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sri Lanka last executed a prisoner in 1976. At the time, prisoners were hanged.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sri Lanka has 1,299 people in prison who face death sentences and 48 of them have been convicted of drug offenses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The statement says Sirisena believes the move is justified because he says other countries execute prisoners for drug crimes.</p>
<p class="title">Sri Lanka's president has said people who have been sentenced to death for drug crimes but were not executed because of a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment will soon have the sentences carried out.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government's official web site says in a statement that President Maithripala Sirisena will order the executions soon but did not say how the prisoners would be executed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sri Lanka last executed a prisoner in 1976. At the time, prisoners were hanged.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sri Lanka has 1,299 people in prison who face death sentences and 48 of them have been convicted of drug offenses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The statement says Sirisena believes the move is justified because he says other countries execute prisoners for drug crimes.</p>