bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        name
        published
      }
      ... on VideoSection {
        name
        published
      }
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        name
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        relatedNewsletters {
          ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
          id
        }
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...hooksInlinePlusWidgetContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
  ... on Video {
    youtubeId
  }
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on SectionUnion {
  __isSectionUnion: __typename
  ... on Section {
    name
  }
  ... on VideoSection {
    name
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        entityId
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        entityId
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        entityId
      }
      ... on VideoSection {
        entityId
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        name
      }
      ... on VideoSection {
        name
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksInlinePlusWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sectionsV2 {
    value {
      __typename
      ... on Section {
        name
      }
      ... on Node {
        __isNode: __typename
        id
      }
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


types

sectionsV2

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

Julian Ryall

People in Japan are expressing their anger after a United Nations panel urged the country to stop imposing the death penalty for the most serious crimes, with many saying the UN should stop interfering in their domestic affairs.
The report, issued in late November by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR), came weeks after another UN committee also provoked public anger following its advice for Japan to change its laws to allow a woman to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne and serve as empress.
The UNHCR report raised concerns that Japan’s use of capital punishment might contravene international laws and criticised its long-established practice of informing death row inmates on the same day as their impending execution.
It also called Japan’s method of execution, hanging, “cruel, inhuman or degrading” and condemned the practice of only notifying family members after executions had been carried out.
The UNHCR report has been met with outrage in Japan, with many people seeing it as an unjustified intrusion by the international body.
“What gives the UN the right to demand such things of a sovereign government that is following its laws?” asked Hiromichi Moteki, a conservative historian.


“I see no reason why this organisation should have the right to interfere in another nation’s laws, especially ones that are long-established and supported by the citizens of that nation,” said Moteki, the acting secretary general of the Tokyo-based Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact.
“I can only see this as an infringement on the sovereignty of the domestic laws of a nation and I would argue that each time the UN comes up with this sort of report that is critical of Japan it weakens the respect that Japanese people have for the UN.”
Ken Kato, a Tokyo-based businessman who describes himself as politically conservative, agreed with the general sentiment in Japan about the matter.
“Most Japanese unquestionably agree that we should have and use the death penalty when the crime requires it, such as when a child is deliberately killed or sexually abused,” he said.
“In these cases, we feel that the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment. These are our laws, and for us to choose.”
Since 2000, 98 inmates have been executed in Japan and 107 are presently on death row. The last execution in the country was carried out more than two years ago.
Studies have consistently shown broad support for capital punishment for certain crimes – one such survey revealed around 80 per cent of Japanese people supported its retention. This was despite a recent acquittal of Iwao Hakamata, an 88-year-old man who spent nearly half a century on death row for four murders that prosecutors belatedly admitted he did not commit.

Japan and the US are the only G7 member states that have the death penalty. A total of 144 nations had abolished capital punishment as of the end of 2023, according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty and other human rights groups have long been critical of Japan’s use of the death penalty. The European Union has also been calling on Tokyo to abolish capital punishment.
“The EU has been preaching to Japan for many years to do away with the death penalty, but that has led to criticism of the EU here for trying to pressure us for our laws,” Kato said.
“Like the UN, who is the EU to tell us how we should punish people? Getting involved in this way only serves to reduce the credibility of the EU and make Japanese people more determined to do things our way.”
The death penalty was also in the headlines in Japan after Mario Marazziti, a human-rights activist and founder of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, gave an interview to Kyodo News during a recent visit to Tokyo.
Marazziti, a former politician from Italy, suggested in the interview that a life sentence was more appropriate for someone who has committed a serious crime as the public would still be safe.

While Marazziti admitted many Japanese people supported the death penalty, he said local politicians should take the initiative to abolish it.
“Japanese people trust institutions, and the government, and authority,” he said. While the public might initially disagree with an official decision to abolish the death penalty, they would trust the authorities to have “a good reason” for such a move, he added.
Many in Japan, however, disagreed with Marazziti’s comments.
“Italy should stick to its laws and dealing with its crimes,” said one message on the Japan Today website. “If they do not believe in the ultimate punishment, for the very worst of crimes, good for them: they are a sovereign nation and can decide themselves.
“Last time I checked Japan has a lower rate of murder and heinous crime than Italy, so [Japan] must be doing something right. ”Another message said: “Not your country. Not your business. Their country. Their rules. Like it or not, [the] death penalty will stay.”


UN calls for Japan to scrap death penalty slammed as foreign interference

Tokyo. The UN Human Rights Council report has been met with outrage in Japan. Photo: Shutterstock

Iwao Hakamata (right), who was recently acquitted of four murders after spending more than four decades on death row. Photo: Kyodo

An execution chamber is seen at the Tokyo Detention Centre. Photo: Kyodo/Reuters

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

East Asia

A United Nations panel called Japan’s method of execution ‘cruel’, among other criticisms of its use of capital punishment


A United Nations panel called Japan’s method of execution ‘cruel’, among other criticisms of its use of capital punishment.


Japan

Human rights

United Nations

Crime

UN calls for Japan to scrap death penalty slammed as foreign interference

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A United Nations panel called Japan’s method of execution ‘cruel’, among other criticisms of its use of capital punishment

A United Nations panel called Japan’s method of execution ‘cruel’, among other criticisms of its use of capital punishment