Japan: Justice minister gives no comment on selection of 2 inmates for execution

Death Chamber
at Tokyo Detention Center

Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki has kept silent on how two death-row inmates were selected for execution on April 26, while saying he "reviewed their case carefully."

"Japanese law legalizes capital punishment and the court trial concluded after careful deliberation. I also reviewed their case carefully and went ahead with the executions," Tanigaki explained in a news conference on April 26. However, when he was asked why he picked the 2 inmates for execution, he refused to comment.

Hanged were Katsuji Hamasaki, 64, and Yoshihide Miyagi, 56. The pair were convicted of summoning two rival gang heads, aged 45 and 39, to a family restaurant in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, in April 2005 and shooting them to death.

Tanigaki said he had no particular reason for carrying out executions relatively quickly after the previous hangings on Feb. 21.

Hideki Wakabayashi, executive director of Amnesty International Japan, expressed his concern about the current government's attitude toward capital punishment.

"The Abe administration has executed five people in the four months since the Liberal Democratic Party regained control of the government in December last year. It appears to be on a path of mass execution. If Japan ignores the current world trend in which more and more countries are abolishing the death penalty, it will isolate itself from international society," he said.

Wakabayashi also noted that Japan's criteria for selecting inmates to be executed remain unclear.

"We suspect that the ministry carries out executions in an automatic fashion without careful examination," he said.

Kenji Yamagishi, president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, issued a statement, noting that over 130 inmates remain on death row in Japan.

"We are suspicious that the ministry may be executing people to control the number of inmates on death row who haven't yet been hanged. We request that the government open up information about the death penalty and immediately start public discussions about abandoning capital punishment in Japan."

Source: The Mainichi, April 27, 2013

Latest double hanging condemned; 5 executions so far this year under new Prime Minister

The execution of 2 death row inmates in Japan today, is part of a chilling escalation of death penalty use under the new Liberal Democratic government, Amnesty International has said.

Earlier today the 2 men - Yoshihide Miyagi, 56, and Katsuji Hamasaki, 64 - were hanged in Tokyo, after they had both been convicted of murder for shooting rival gang members in a restaurant in Ichihara city in 2005.

The executions are the 4th and 5th to take place in Japan since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December, with 3 other men hanged in February. In total, Japan has executed 12 people in the last year. By contrast, before March 2012 no executions had been carried out for 20 months in the country.

Amnesty International Asia Pacific Director Catherine Baber said:

"This shocking news unfortunately reinforces our fears that the new government is increasing the pace of executions in an alarming way.

"We have already seen 5 executions this year, and it shows that the government has no intention of heeding international calls to start a genuine and open public debate on the death penalty including abolition.

"We urge the government to immediately reverse this worrying trend and impose a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its eventual abolishment."

10 people were hanged in less than a year during Shinzo Abe's previous time as Prime Minister between September 2006 and September 2007. Meanwhile, the current Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki has publicly expressed his support for the death penalty as well, adding to concerns that the total number of executions under Abe's previous government might even be surpassed this time.

Source: Amnesty International UK, April 27, 2013

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