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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Japan: Man on death row for 1998 murders dies of cancer

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OSAKA — A 66-year-old man on death row for killing two people in 1998 has died of cancer of the esophagus, Osaka prison officials said Friday.

Susumu Nakayama was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing Takemitsu Kikukawa, 37, and a female acquaintance, Minako Kobuchi, 40, on a street in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, in February of 1998. Nakayama had been having an affair with Kikukawa’s wife at the time.

Nakayama had earlier been convicted or robbery and murder in another case but was released on parole after serving 18 years in prison.

He appealed his death sentence but the Supreme Court upheld it in 2006.

Prison officials said Nakayama had been ill since last June and died in the prison hospital at around 11 a.m. Thursday, TV Asahi reported.

His death leaves 130 prisoners on death row throughout Japan.

Source: Japan Times, May 16, 2014
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