Death-row inmates stage hunger strike

• Inmates request that the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment

In the wake of the release of former MP Duminda Silva under a Presidential pardon, several inmates of the Mahara and Welikada Prisons who have been sentenced to death, commenced a hunger strike from last afternoon.  
Prisons spokesman Chandana Ekanayake said that the inmates were requesting that the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.  

He said that discussion  was under way with the Justice Ministry that the death penalty  be commuted to life imprisonment.