The Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte praised his Sri Lankan counterpart, Maithripala Sirisena for what he described as following the country's 'successful war on drugs'.
The Sri Lankan cabinet this week announced they would implement the death penalty for drug trafficking offences.
Despite widespread criticism of the move, Mr Sirisena defended it saying he was attempting to replicate the 'success' of the Philippines.
Commenting on this at a press briefing this week, Mr Duterte's spokesperson, Harry Roque said, “Of course, we are happy that other countries have taken note of our war on drugs and that they look upon us as best practice on dealing with illegal drugs. So we appreciate that, but as of now, we still have no death penalty."
“Well, I think, we have not reached the point where we will hang them. We are still on the level of really using our police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Bureau of Investigation and our political will against drug pushers.”
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.