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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.

Indonesia's SBY didn't save Bali Nine Australians from death penalty before leaving office

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
Jakarta: Indonesia's former president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, failed to save two Australians from death row before he left office last month, leaving their fate in the hands of the administration.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the so-called Bali Nine, had appeals for clemency before Dr Yudhoyono for about two years.


There were hopes the former president, who took special care in maintaining good relations with Australia throughout his decade in office, would grant the pair a reprieve as one of his final acts.

But a source within Indonesia's office of the state secretary told AAP that didn't happen.

The clemency requests were not among the last decrees SBY signed before departing on October 20 and have gone back to ministerial level.

The source, who could not be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the new president, Joko Widodo, would receive his own advice on the cases.

"The documents have gone for ministerial legal consideration," the source said.

"This means that the decree hasn't been signed yet."

The pair's lawyer, Julian McMahon, says in prison, the two men have made the most of the chance to change.

"They have rehabilitated, and helped re-educate and train many prisoners for a better life after prison," he said.

"When the new government comes to consider the clemency case, we are very hopeful that the clients' hard work and rehabilitation over many years will be recognised.

"It is really a story about the success possible in the penal system."

New Law and Human Rights Minister Yasona Laoly is likely to be asked for an opinion.

Mr Joko's cabinet is only a week old and experts agree he is likely to be more focused on domestic issues than the administration of SBY.

The president, better known at home as Jokowi, may make his first official Australian trip for this month's G20 summit, but is yet to confirm his attendance.

In August, the then-governor of Kerobokan jail, where Chan and Sukumaran are incarcerated, revealed he had recommended the pair serve life in prison, rather than receive the death penalty.

It's understood his advice to the ministers advising Dr Yudhoyono is available for consideration by the new ministers.

Chan and Sukumaran were among nine young Australians convicted over a 2005 heroin trafficking plot.

In August, Sukumaran told reporters he was trying to spend his time productively in the prison's art school.
He said the terrible wait for news on his punishment was hard to articulate, summing it up as: "I just don't want to be shot, really."

Source: AAP, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 5, 2014 (local time)

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