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Agence France-Presse

Japan hanged three prisoners on Tuesday, its first executions in two years, with the government saying it was necessary to maintain capital punishment in the face of continued “atrocious crimes”.
The executions were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October.
One of the three executed on Tuesday was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who used a hammer and knife to kill his 80-year-old aunt, two cousins and four others in 2004, a justice ministry spokeswoman said.
The other two were 54-year-old Tomoaki Takanezawa, who killed two clerks at an arcade game parlour in 2003, and his accomplice Mitsunori Onogawa, 44.
Japan, where more than 100 inmates await execution, is one of the few developed nations that still have the death penalty.
Public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups.
Japan on brink of granting death penalty immunity to Australian troops
“Whether to keep the death sentence or not is an important issue that concerns the foundation of Japan’s criminal justice system,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said.
“Given that atrocious crimes keep occurring one after another, it is necessary to execute those whose guilt is extremely grave, so it is inappropriate to abolish capital punishment.”
The country is reeling after a fire gutted a mental health clinic in the city of Osaka last Friday, with the death toll climbing to 25 as another woman succumbed to her injuries.
Investigators have made the unusual move of naming the arson suspect although they have not yet announced a criminal probe.
Japan executed three inmates in 2019 and 15 in 2018 – including 13 from the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out a fatal 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
Executions are usually implemented long after sentencing, always by hanging.
Japan’s ‘Twitter killer’ sentenced to death for nine murders in 2017
For decades, authorities have told death row inmates just hours before an execution is carried out – a process that two inmates argue is illegal and causes psychological distress.
The pair are suing the government over the system, and are also seeking compensation of 22 million yen (US$194,000) for the distress caused by living with uncertainty about their execution date.
Documents and news archives show that Japan used to give death row inmates more notice, but stopped around 1975.

In December 2020, Japan’s top court overturned a ruling blocking the retrial of a man described as the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, raising new hope for the now 85-year-old.
Iwao Hakamada has lived under a death sentence for more than half a century after being convicted of robbing and murdering his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenaged children.
But he and his supporters say he confessed to the crime only after an allegedly brutal police interrogation that included beatings, and that evidence in the case was planted.
Also last December, a man dubbed the “Twitter killer” was sentenced to death for murdering and dismembering nine people he met on the social media platform.


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Japan

Japan carries out first executions under PM Fumio Kishida

Japan, where more than 100 inmates await execution, is one of the few developed nations that still have the death penalty. Photo: Shutterstock

Iwao Hakamada says he confessed to the crime only after an allegedly brutal police interrogation. Photo: Kyodo

‘Black Widow’ case shows Japan’s support for death penalty is alive and kicking

Japanese woman Chisako Kakehi, who has been dubbed Japan’s ‘Black Widow’ for poisoning her husband and lovers with cyanide. Photo: AFP

The Kyoto District Court sentences to death Chisako Kakehi, 70, a serial killer dubbed Japan's "black widow" on Nov. 7, 2017 for the murders of her husband and two common-law partners, as well as the attempted murder of an acquaintance, between 2007 and 2013. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Peole line up seeking admission tickets for a judgment trial of Chisako Kakehi at the Kyoto district court on November 7, 2017. Kakehi, a one-time millionairess dubbed the "Black Widow" over the untimely deaths of lovers and a husband, was sentenced to death on November 7, 2017, in a high-profile murder case that has gripped Japan. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / STR / Japan OUT / JAPAN POOL

Japan on brink of granting Australian troops immunity from death penalty

Japan is negotiating an agreement that will cover the jurisdiction of Australian troops in its territory. Photo: AP

Protesters hold placards that read: "Our anger has reached its limit" during a protest rally against the presence of U.S. military bases on the southwestern island of Okinawa in Naha, Okinawa, Sunday, June 19, 2016 as many of them wearing black to mourn the rape and killing of a local woman in which a former U.S. Marine is a suspect. The rally called for a review of the U.S.-Japanese security agreement, which burdens Okinawa with hosting the bulk of American troops in Japan. (Ryosuke Uematsu/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

This handout photo released by the Indian Navy on October 12, 2020 shows ships during the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in which India, Australia, Japan and the U.S are taking part in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. (Photo by - / INDIAN NAVY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /Indian Navy" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

News

Asia

East Asia


The country executed three prisoners on death row, the first since December 2019
Public support for capital punishment remains high in Japan despite international criticism



The country executed three prisoners on death row, the first since December 2019.


Fumio Kishida

Crime

Human rights

Japan carries out first executions under PM Fumio Kishida

The country executed three prisoners on death row, the first since December 2019 Public support for capital punishment remains high in Japan despite international criticism

The country executed three prisoners on death row, the first since December 2019

Public support for capital punishment remains high in Japan despite international criticism