Japan under fire for 'secretive, inhumane' death penalty

Amnesty International has renewed its calls for Japan to abolish its use of the death penalty, accusing the country of shrouding the practice in secrecy.

The calls come as the human rights organisation releases its annual report card on the death penalty around the world.

Amnesty said there were 15 executions in Japan last year - the highest known number since 1975. The group says 100 people are estimated to be on death row in the country, which performs executions in secret, usually by hanging.

Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zafiri, says people in Japan are not well informed about the capital punishment system, under which inmates are not told of their impending execution until the morning of their death, and their family is not told until after the execution.

"I think people would be surprised to hear that Japan, one of the most industrialised nations in the world, is still carrying out executions in this way," he told ABC's Radio National Breakfast.

"People on death row are kept in solitary confinement, sometimes for decades.

"Literally every day you wake up thinking that this could be the last day, which is a form of ill treatment that the UN and other bodies have frowned upon."

He provides the example of Hakamada Iwao, a prisoner who has been on death row since 1968, having spent the last 28 years in solitary confinement.

He says the treatment of Hakamada has been inhumane.

Mr Zafiri says Hakamada confessed to murder after 20 days of interrogation by police, without a lawyer present. In 2007, one of his trial judges publicly stated that he had always believed Hakamada was innocent.

Amnesty holds some hope that the situation in Japan could change, but acknowledges it is difficult to reform the system without more knowledge in the community.

"Some polls indicate that there is support for the death penalty among the Japanese public," Mr Zafiri said.

"What is interesting is that Japan is moving towards something akin to a jury system, with lay judges that can vote on sentences.

"I think this will lead to a debate, because the death penalty is something that is quite secret in Japan, not many people are aware of just how it's carried out.

"I think if they are forced to come face to face with the harsh reality... it will prompt a debate and a review of Japan's policy."

Global picture

Amnesty's latest snapshot of the death penalty presents grim reading. It says at least 8,864 people were sentenced to death in 52 countries during the year. Of those, 76 % were in Asia.

China carried out more executions than the rest of the world's nations put together, according to the report. An estimated 1,718 people were executed and it is estimated that a further 7,003 sentenced to death in China in 2008.

Mr Zafiri says it is hard to accurately report a figure due to secrecy in the Chinese Government.

The report says a feature of the death penalty around the world is an apparent discrimination against poor people and minorities.

"This is a problem from the wealthiest nations like the US to the poorest countries," Mr Zafiri said.

"In India for example, which hasn't carried out a death sentence but still has a death row, it discriminates against the poor and minorities."

There is a degree of optimism in the report, which notes that there are only a small number of countries around the world that use the death penalty.

"By contrast, the bad news is that hundreds of people continue to be sentenced to death and suffer in the many countries that have not yet formally abolished the death penalty," said Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan.

The report says most of the world is moving towards an end to capital punishment, with only 25 out of the 59 countries that use the death penalty reported to have executed people in 2008.

Last year the UN General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The vote was 104 in favour and 54 against.

Australia has not used the death penalty since 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hanged in Pentridge Prison, Victoria.

Source: ABC News, March 25, 2009