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Justice Minister Eisuke Mori announced Tuesday that two death-row inmates have been executed, marking the first executions under the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso formed in late September and breaking a record high for the number of people executed per year.
According to the Justice Ministry, the two are Michitoshi Kuma, 70, who was at the Fukuoka detention center, and Masahiro Takashio, 55, at the Sendai detention center. They were the first executions since Sept 11.
Kuma kidnapped two seven-year-old girls on their way to school in southern Japan in February 1992 and strangled them, dumping their bodies in the mountains.
Takashio was convicted of breaking into a house in northern Japan in March 2004 and stabbing a 55-year-old woman and her 83-year-old mother to death before stealing 50,000 yen, or about $500.
"Both crimes stemmed from cruel motives and took the precious lives of victims," Mori told reporters. "The crimes caused grave sorrow to the families of the victims."
Japan, which in the past has faced criticism for keeping prisoners on death row for decades before their executions, has increased the pace of hangings in recent years.
Executions are not announced beforehand and are carried out in secret.
The rise in executions has triggered strong protests from advocacy groups such as Amnesty International, though the anti-capital punishment lobby inside Japan is small.
There are about 100 people on death row in Japan.
Tuesday's executions bring the annual total of people executed by the government to 15, the most since 1999 when the government started publishing the number of people executed. The government has been executing inmates at a pace of once around every two months since the period of former Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama.
© Wire reports
34 Comments
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runner3
What if they were really innocent?
tzvete
How many countries have death penalty now and what's the opinion of people there?Any recent data found?
thundercat
A 70 year old man! Shameful...
Spidey
"Innocent" has no place in the Japanese judicial system. It would muck up the 99% conviction/confession rate.
Now that's something to be proud of!!
Gambare Nippon!!
S
thepro
I just can't believe they do it in secret
Youdontknow
2 seven year old girls! Shameful...
Youdontknow
Nothing secret about it. They surprise them with the day just the same as they surprised their victims: without remorse, without the chance to say goodbye to family, without listening to them plead for their lives - just as their victims did.
Rodney_King
Do you mean innocent like Tsutomu Miyazaki the otaku who killed little girls in Saitama or innocent like the guy who stabbed 7 people to death in Akihabara ? What is your definition of innocence ?
The country has no money to feed and shelter useless people for free...
ptolemy
Sorry but this pair deserved what they got. One killed children and the other elderly and middle aged women. Seems they targeted the weak and defenseless. I have no pity for such people. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Taxes are better spent helping the truely needy, not societal rejects who chose their lot.
thepro
So I guess you belong to the 'eye for an eye' camp. Hope all the wrong things you've done in life catch up with you then.
frontandcentre
What a shame that they are persisting with this disgusting and barbaric practice. I thought that they might have taken a break now the daft Hatoyama had been dispensed with
555Book
Is this suppose to allow them ample time to come to term with their death sentence so that they can 'move on' more at ease?
BBLeo
Only the hanged new if they were guilty or innocent. But now it is too late to ask them. Justice Minister Eisuke Mori can ask them when he will join his own death. His ambition is hanging also helping out to make more room for others that will join death row. Japan should slow down with such crimes punishable by death sentence. Reading daily Japan with crimes, I'm amazed what people are doing. Global warming is really affecting most of the human brains.
techall
I count 95.
http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543496/capital_punishment_worldwide.html
The U.S. is a bit confusing because there are different state laws. There are some federal crimes that carry the death penalty (treason being one) and the military fall under the UCMJ which has a death penalty also.
If your country has the death penalty and you don't like it, work to have the laws changed. If you live in a country that has a capital punishment, don't break the law.
timorborder
2004? Seems pretty quick, more used to Japan knocking off inmates who have stewed for 15 to 20 years on death row.
nath
It's one thing for a crazed, sociopathic, perhaps psychopathic, individual to commit murder, but quite another when it is sanctioned and carried out by the state.
shuuu
Bye-bye dirt bags.
Molenir
Good news. 4 years is relatively quick for an execution, but definitely good news. Finally justice for their victims. That 1992 guy, definitely too long for him. I like how they don't tell murderers the date of their death. Just surprise them with it, the same way they did with their victims. I think other countries should adopt that standard as well.
ptolemy
"Regardless of guilt", Please, one killed children. Sorry but he made his choice. The other killed a middle aged and an elderly woman. Duely charged, tried, and found GUILTY. So what support the scum bag and say screw you to the victims and their families, these dirt bags made their choice and paid the price, so no boo-hoo from me. Dont do the crime if you cant do the time.
If anyone killed my 9 year old daughter, dont worry about the government getting capital punishment, you'll face me. I'll hunt them to the gates of hell.
BlackFlag
what time?
BlackFlag
not a lot of logic behind this RodneyKing, this is just running for the rope and tree.
ptolemy
From 1992 to now for one and 2004 to now for the other. Do the math its there.
Molenir
Well, sure, if you mean, after having been arrested, tried, found guilty, appealed, verdict upheld, appealed again, in some cases retried, finally executed years after they should have been. That is running for the rope and tree... Or not.
What you fail to understand is, these people are guilty. All these statements about how innocents are being executed is just nonsense. That they refuse to admit their guilt, does not mean they're not guilty. I'm not in general a big fan of Japanese justice. Theres too much they really need to address. However, each of these people have had their Due Process. You can't expect more then that.
Elbuda Mexicano
Congratulations to the Japanese execution system! Here in Japan, if you are found to be guilty you will hang! I love this! In more corrupt countries, if you can pay off the courts, etc...you will get away with murder, go back on the streets and be able to kill off those who testified against you. So to all of these cry babies here who can not understand the reason the death penalty is still used in over 90 countries, wait until you are a tragic victim of crime and then come back and tell us how much compassion you have for all of these scum bag criminals.
ebisen
Priceless - typical Japanese way of solving the problem (and, no, I'm not criticizing the Japanese)
techall
The amount of time spent on death row in Japan is not entirely arbitrary. A lot depends on the appeal process and how vigorously it is persued. Some forgo all appeals and spped up the process. others will appeal and profess their innocense to the last day. Recently sosme capital crime verdicts in Japan have been overturned on the basis of coerced confessions, prosecution with holding or fabricating evidence. This doesn't mean the accused were not guilty in all cases it just proves that the appeal process is important.
BlackFlag
you DONT know that. that is what you fail to understand in your blind moral rage. maybe 99% are but if 1% isnt that is not a trade off I or any civilised person would be willing to accept.
BlackFlag
still keep trottong out lines like "cant do the crime..." makes you sound like a real tough cowboy yeah yeehaaw
IchyaParadise
BlackFlag- What is amazing is that I never hear about you standing outside the prisons asking for them to be retried or freed. Why don't you try your town hall meetings, religous or whatever forum you may go to, to speak the government about its bad judicial system?
You just like to cry here. Having fun yet?
BlackFlag
do you understand the difference between an internet forum and the real world? how would you hear about what I do in my day to day life and why would it be any of your business? this is a forum for crying on, that's all it is. have fun
IchyaParadise
BlackFlag, of course I don't, that is why I cry here too. I am glad that you understand that I want nothing to do with your personal life as well as you with mine; unless you want to. Just making sure you do not want to chase me around the forum like YangYong does, screaming his religous beliefs.
Molenir
BlackFlag. So, you're saying of the 100 people currently on death row, 1 of them is actually innocent. Right? Which one? Please, by all means, since you can look at this number and discern the truth. In your moral outrage, which thinks, surely 1 in 100 must be innocent. Please, let us know which person should be released, and then of course you should volunteer to have him live next door to you.
techall
Molenir:
Would you trip the gallows on Iwao Hakamada? Read his story, maybe he is guilty but there is certainly enough reason to doubt. 23 days of continusous inerrigations and suspect evidence.
I am a proponent of the death penalty but the evidence must be unequivicable. Coerced confessions don't count.
Molenir
This was awhile ago, but what the heck, I'll go ahead and respond anyway.
To answer your question, yes. I wouldn't have any qualms about being the hangman. Well, apart from not wanting to be the one to personally pull the trigger on anyone, even a murderer. I don't really doubt the guys guilt though. Having said this I freely admit I don't know anything about the case. However, think about it for a moment. If there was really significant evidence of coercion, or a forced confession, he would have gotten a new trial. And they'd have tossed out his confession. That they didn't suggests that perhaps despite your saying it was forced, that either it wasn't, or that certain details in the confession lead them to believe that he really is guilty. Again, I don't know the case so I don't know the details, this is just my personal belief. Take it as you will.