Japan: A call for death penalty debate

Keiko Chiba

Until July 28, no executions had been carried out for a year in Japan, with death row convicts numbering a record 109. On that day, 2 inmates were hanged in the Tokyo Detention House.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, a human rights lawyer who used to be a member of a Diet members' league for the abolition of the death penalty, ordered the executions. Moreover, she witnessed them — probably the first justice minister to do so.

Torn apart between her personal belief and duty as justice minister, Ms. Chiba must have had a hard time. After the executions, she said, "(Seeing the executions) forced me to think deeply again about the death penalty." She said she will set up in her ministry a panel to discuss the death penalty, including whether it should be continued, and open the gallows at the detention house to mass media coverage.

Because capital punishment in Japan has been veiled in secrecy, wide public discussions are needed. The Justice Ministry started announcing executions and the number of inmates executed as late as November 1998, followed by the names of inmates executed and the places where the executions took place in December 2007.

Already 139 countries have abolished the death penalty or suspended executions for a long time. Japan is among the 57 countries that maintain capital punishment. The panel must get and disclose concrete information on the relationship between the existence or nonexistence of the death penalty and the occurrence of serious crimes.

In a December 2009 government poll, 86 percent of those surveyed supported capital punishment. With the lay judge system in place, the possibility cannot be ruled out that citizens have to hand down death sentences.

It is all the more important that full information be provided to citizens about capital punishment and that they develop well-informed opinions. The panel should include people from outside the Justice Ministry and should take into account the opinions and feelings of death row inmates. Ms. Chiba should consider calls from various groups for suspending executions while the panel's discussions are going on.

Source: Editorial, Japan Times, July 31, 2010

Chiba persuaded to carry out her 'duty'

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba surprised the nation by ordering 2 executions, apparently after ministry officials persuaded her to fulfill her duty by citing a Cabinet survey that showed support for the death penalty in excess of 85 %.

Chiba, an opponent of capital punishment, attended the executions Wednesday at the Tokyo Detention House. Afterward, she announced plans for a study group to discuss capital punishment and to allow the media to see inside execution chambers.

Early Wednesday morning, Chiba went straight from her home in Yokohama to the detention center. Though usually clad in bright pinks and greens, Chiba wore a gray suit on the day.

Tokyo Detention Center

The execution chamber in the Tokyo Detention House is a 2-story facility. After being informed that the sentence will be carried out, the death-row inmate is moved to the execution chamber where the condemned criminal stands on a trapdoor. After having a noose placed around his or her neck, a prison officer pushes a button in an adjacent room and the prisoner falls through the trapdoor.

The inmates executed Wednesday were Kazuo Shinozawa, 59, and Hidenori Ogata, 33.

The ministry's criminal affairs bureau chief, the head of the detention house, and prosecutors and officials from the Tokyo High Prosecutors Office watched the executions with Chiba through a glass wall. The executions were completed by about 10 a.m.

Ministry officials said Chiba appeared tense and pale after returning to the ministry.

According to high-ranking ministry officials, Chiba gradually changed her mind regarding executions, finally deciding to sign the execution orders after being persuaded by ministry officials, who wanted to avoid having zero executions during Chiba's tenure.

A high-ranking ministry official said that this spring, Chiba began to refer to the signing of death penalty orders as "one of the minister's duties."

"The minister might have decided to sign the execution orders before the House of Councillors election. I distributed trial records on the 2 death-row inmates before the election," the official said.

The Justice Ministry explained to Chiba that the public would find it difficult to understand why she keeps avoiding signing execution orders, especially as the lay judge system has forced even ordinary people to make difficult decisions concerning the death penalty.

The ministry official also attributed Chiba's decision to the fact that public support for the death penalty reached a record high of 85.6 percent in a February Cabinet survey.

In the recent election, Chiba lost her Diet seat, and she might have been criticized if she signed an execution order as a private citizen. For this reason, Chiba told the ministry last week that she would sign an execution order and also attend the execution.

On Saturday--one day before Chiba's tenure as a lawmaker expired--she signed the execution orders at her ministry office.

Stressing the need for raising nationwide discussions about capital punishment after being appointed justice minister, Chiba has also said execution chambers should be open to the media. Some ministry officials, however, have expressed concern that merely opening execution chambers to the public, while continuing to delay executions, would send a message that the ministry is going to abolish the death penalty.

Chiba and the ministry finally reached a compromise in that information should be disclosed at the time of an execution.

"While public interest in the country's criminal justice system has been increasing, each person may eventually be asked to shoulder the responsibility of making a decision [on the death penalty]. I'd like to publicize the results of the study group, which I hope will lead to a nationwide discussion of capital punishment," Chiba told reporters.

Concrete plans for the study group and a date for opening execution chambers to the media have yet to be announced.

However, these proposals will surely help expose this country's closed system of capital punishment to public scrutiny, and lead to a new phase of discussions on the issue.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, July 31, 2010

Comments

Tibetan protesters executed for Lhasa riot killings

Tibetan exiles have reported the first executions of those convicted for rioting last year in Lhasa, with at least two people put to death in a rare implementation of capital punishment in the restive region. Two Tibetans convicted of arson and sentenced to death in April were executed on Tuesday morning in Lhasa, reported The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala—the home in exile of the Dalai Lama. It said that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak had been sentenced to death for their part in setting fire to five shops in the Tibetan capital, killing seven people, in the riot that rocked Lhasa in March last year. Officials say that 21 people — including three Tibetan protesters — died in the violence, which embarrassed Beijing just as it was preparing to stage the Olympic Games and prompted a security crackdown across the Himalayan region. The body of Mr. Gyaltsen had been returned to his family and then submitted to a river burial—an un...

Iran: Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution

Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution, according to the Iranian newspaper Etemad on 18 April, according to another source on 20 April. She was convicted of murdering a relative when she was 17. Unless the Judiciary intervenes, she can now escape execution only if the woman’s entire family accept payment of diyeh, or blood money. One of the familly is said to be undecided. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - expressing concern that Delara Darabi is in imminent danger of execution for a crime committed when she was under 18; - calling on the authorities to halt the execution of Delara Darabi immediately, and commute her death sentence; - reminding the authorities that Iran is a state part...

Florida | Former prison warden who oversaw executions urges corrections workers to not participate in them

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

Iran: Prisoner of conscience Mohsen Amir Aslani hanged for ‘different interpretation of Quran’

Mohsen Amir Aslani NCRI - The Iranian Resistance calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, as well as all international human rights organizations to strongly condemn the execution of prisoner of conscience Mr Mohsen Amir Aslani on charges of “corruption on earth; changing Islam’s principles and secondary laws; and new interpretation of Quran”. It further calls for adoption of binding decisions against the growing number of arbitrary executions by the religious fascism ruling Iran. Mr. Amir Aslani, 37, who had been in prison since eight years ago, was once sentenced to four years in prison which was later commuted to twenty-eight months. However, as more fabricated charges were brought against him, the head henchman Judge Salavati condemned him to death. The Iranian regime has refraining from handing over the body of this prisoner to his family through stonewalling and offering contradictory answers to them. The execution...

Iraq: Saddam Hussein Execution was Moved Forward Because of Gaddafi Rescue Plans, Judge Says

Saddam Hussein's execution on December 30, 2006 The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was accelerated due to the belief that the then Libyan leader, Muammar El-Gaddafi, had a plan to rescue him from prison, Judge Mounir Haddad revealed today. Hadad, who presided over the trial of Hussein, revealed to the Al-Arabiya Satellite Channel Point of Order program new details of the trial against the former president and his last moments before being hanged, including the 'health and welfare' votes for the magistrate himself . According to his testimony, the application of the death penalty to Saddam Hussein was precipitated because authorities knew that El-Gaddafi - later murdered in 2011 - was allegedly trying to bribe US guards who guarded him to rescue him from prison. He added that, contrary to previous reports from the local and US press, former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani gave his 'implicit approval' for Hussein's execution, an...

Tennessee Reduced Training in IV Placement in New Lethal Injection Protocol

The protocol that took effect in 2025 sheds new light on Tony Carruthers’ botched execution, when Dr. Mark Fowler spent nearly an hour trying, and failing, to place a secondary IV line Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol adopted a year and a half ago appears to include reduced training in IV placement. That’s the part of the process prison staff failed to complete last month before aborting the execution of Tony Carruthers. Filings from ongoing litigation over the protocol show concerns about the executioners’ training and qualifications aren’t new.

Halfway through the year, Saudi Arabia has already executed nearly 100 people

Almost 100 people executed so far this year as dozens more remain on death row for drug-related offences Saudi Arabian authorities have executed nearly 100 people so far this year, including at least 61 for drug-related offences, the latest of which was on 18 June. In response, Dana Ahmed, Middle East Researcher at Amnesty International, said today: “It is halfway through the year and Saudi Arabia has executed nearly 100 people, a grim milestone exposing the authorities’ unconscionable and unlawful use of the death penalty. Of the 96 people put to death already in 2026, an astounding 61 were executed for drug-related offences; 39 of them were foreign nationals and 22 Saudi nationals.

U.S. | Lethal injections are more likely to be botched, experts say

Tony Carruthers, a Memphis man on death row, is one of hundreds of people in the U.S. whose executions did not go as planned When the Tennessee Department of Corrections botched Tony Carruthers’ execution, it wasn’t surprising to Austin Sarat. He’s been researching and writing about “state killings” for decades. “Of all of the methods of execution used in the United States over the last 140 years, lethal injection has the highest rate of being botched,” said Sarat, a professor of law and politics at Amherst College. He said an execution is botched when it deviates from standard operating procedure or official legal protocol.

Florida executes Dusty Ray Spencer

74-year-old man becomes oldest inmate executed in modern Florida history A 74-year-old man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife became the oldest person executed in Florida’s modern history on Thursday, and the state is scheduled to execute another 74-year-old inmate next month. Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen.

As Idaho Reinstates Firing Squad, Volunteers Sought for Executions

The state becomes the first in the U.S. to make the firing squad the standard method of capital punishment Idaho is opening a new phase in the administration of capital punishment in the United States, returning to the firing squad as the default method of execution. The decision reintroduces a system that has been abolished or abandoned in most of the country and is now being reorganized through a formal and highly structured framework. The new death penalty protocol State authorities have begun recruiting volunteer law enforcement officers to take part in executions. The operational model includes three primary shooters assigned to carry out the execution, two alternates, and one operations coordinator. All participants will remain anonymous, known only to the prison warden and deputy warden.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog