Removing the cloak of secrecy from executions in Japan

Keiko Chiba

2 death-row inmates were hanged at a Tokyo detention center on July 28 under orders from Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, marking the 1st time since the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) rose to power that Japan has carried out executions.

Critics have questioned why the minister -- once a member of a nonpartisan parliamentary league calling for the abolition of the death penalty -- gave the order to carry out the death sentences. In a news conference, Chiba, who was present for the executions for the first time as a justice minister, said that thorough debate on the death penalty was needed.

Up until now a veil of secrecy has shrouded Japan's execution venues. Chiba's comments following her firsthand witnessing of the executions mark the starting point for discussion of Japan's treatment of the death penalty.

Chiba has instructed the Justice Ministry to form a panel to discuss issues relating to the death penalty in Japan, including its very existence. She has also ordered the Tokyo detention facility where the inmates were executed to be opened to the media.

In a policy list made public last year, the DPJ said it would "continue wide debate not only on the existence of the death penalty, but on a moratorium on executions, advance notification of executions and on the methods by which death sentences are carried out, both within and outside the Diet." Chiba's latest orders are in line with the party's stance. It must be ensured, however, that the panel the government plans to form is not composed of Justice Ministry bureaucrats alone; it must incorporate 3rd party members, spurring opportunities for wide-ranging debate.

Orders to carry out death sentences are the duty of the justice minister, but for nearly a year after Chiba assumed office no death penalties were carried out, and speculation had arisen that the minister would stand firm on her position and eventually step down without ordering any executions.

Chiba lost her seat in the recent House of Councillors election and her term as an upper house member expired on July 25. It was a day before this that she signed the orders to carry out the death sentences. Opposition parties criticized her move, asking why a person who was rejected in the election signed the death penalty orders. Questions have also arisen over the timing of her decision, and the minister can expect to be pursued by the opposition during an extraordinary session of the Diet to be convened on July 30. We want Chiba to be held accountable for the move and explain why she decided to go ahead with the executions.

Over 2/3 of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty either by law or in practice. The only advanced countries to retain it are Japan and the United States.

In a United Nations meeting in December 2007, a resolution submitted by the European Union and other parties calling for a moratorium on the death penalty was passed with approval from 104 nations. The resolution has no binding power, and in Japan, government administrations led by the Liberal Democratic Party continued to carry out executions in line with a trend toward severer penalties for crimes.

In 2008, the committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recommended that the Japanese government review its treatment of death-row inmates from a human-rights perspective, and inform death-row inmates in advance of the time of their executions to lessen their psychological distress.

Needless to say, it is up to each country to decide on their judicial system and penalties for crimes. But countries cannot advance while completely ignoring the voice of international society. It is only natural for Japan to initiate debate in a public setting on the treatment of death-row inmates and the state of executions -- issues that have been cloaked in secrecy up until now.

Source: Mainichi Daily News, July 29, 2010