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.

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.

Sri Lanka last executed a prisoner in 1976. At the time, prisoners were hanged.

Sri Lanka has 1,299 people in prison who face death sentences and 48 of them have been convicted of drug offenses.

The statement says Sirisena believes the move is justified because he says other countries execute prisoners for drug crimes.