Sri Lanka received 100 applications, including from an American, as it began a search for two hangmen as it wants to revive capital punishment for drug smugglers.

The ministry of justice and prison reforms has announced that the date of interviews and the short-listed applicants would not be disclosed for security reasons. There will be two positions of hangmen.

It said among the applicants is a US national when the application deadline ended on February 25.

Capital punishment is legal in Sri Lanka but no executions have taken place since 1976.

The country has struggled to find a permanent executioner after its last hangman resigned five years ago.

President Maithripala Sirisena announced early in February that he would implement the death penalty within the next 2 months for drug convicts.

The Justice Ministry had earlier announced that there were 48 death row drug convicts. Thirty of them have appealed, so 18 of them could be hanged.

The last hangman resigned in 2014 after seeing the gallows for the first time and going into shock. Another was hired last year but never turned up for work.

The country's constitution recognises the freedom of individuals to engage in "any lawful occupation, profession, trade, business or enterprise".

Since 2004 rape, drug trafficking and murder have been considered capital crimes but punishments have only extended to life imprisonment.

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