crime

Japan hangs all 6 remaining Aum death row inmates

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There are extremist zealots in America who use executions of terrorist trash like Aum, Timothy McVeigh and other scum as an excuse to commit violent acts of their own - even if their ideologies are radically different than that of the executed criminals. That's why I have qualms about executing these scumbags. They did it, they deserve the punishment but it might spark even more terror in the long run. Even executing former heads of state can lead to problems. Executing the douchebag dictator Saddam Hussein solved nothing for Iraq. Libya is unstable after Qaddafy's violent demise. Milosevic died in prison and Serbia has been transitioning from fascism to democracy. So it goes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, At one fell swoop?

To paraphrase the bard himself....

"What, all the petty aum chicken hearts and their diablo, at two fell swoops?"

Justice moves fast once the shackles off appeals are removed.

Since we don't have hard Labor anymore , yet the worst we can do is the death penalty. Guess that will do. I won't lose any sleep over these cretins swinging.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sayonara! Let em swing! The only problem with the death penalty in Japan is. Wait.... Nothing!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The only thing that I really have against executions is that executing violent trash like this (and they deserve it for sure) could lead to more radical nutcases doing terror acts of their own in reprisal. Executing an evil criminal doesn't truly stop crime and violence and could lead to more. In this case, more sympathees of this guru and Aum itself may want to 'avenge'. After all, the guru was like a messiah figure to them and nothing else matters to them. They may want to become 'martyrs' too and then nothing is solved.

A US Army doctor who went fanatical with some seer's teachings murdered many of his cohorts in Fort Hood. He shouted that he wanted to 'die as a martyr' and he is on a death row. If he were given life imprisonment he would've faded away into obscurity and would've died forgotten. Now unfortunately his famous 15 minutes aren't up and his death will inspire more fanatical violence mongers. That ain't going to be good.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

browny1July 27 09:19 am JSTger atinos -

People who are hanged are not choked to death as you suggest like some judo-choke hold.

Theirs necks are broken, arteries & nerves severed, sometimes (rarely) even resulting in decapitation.

As all bodies are different, some don't die "instantly" and probably endure enormous pain as they thresh & thrash around in their last moments.

There is sometimes a loud wheezing sound as the person swings on the gallows pole. Sometimes the noose gets embedded in the neck. Google or Bing 'Saddam Hussein execution'. There are many sites showing this. It's not a glorious sight to see. I don't like Saddam anymore than most people, he was an egotistical dictatorial jerk and the Universe hasn't mourned his passing but his trial was a kangaroo court and his execution is nothing to truly celebrate.  His execution did not solve anything for Iraq either, leading to more bloodshed and eventually the rise of ISIS, which is something even worse.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

ger atinos -

People who are hanged are not choked to death as you suggest like some judo-choke hold.

Theirs necks are broken, arteries & nerves severed, sometimes (rarely) even resulting in decapitation.

As all bodies are different, some don't die "instantly" and probably endure enormous pain as they thresh & thrash around in their last moments.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I'm not Japanese , I don't have a vote, I don't care what they do . Most Japanese want the death penalty and they have it .. happy days .

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The death penalty needs to be abolished in Japan.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

The gnawing emptiness in the souls of these banal evildoers was borne of a world weary anomie. The cult tapped into this latent malaise, exploiting and perverting the followers blind naivety so that they became passive accomplices or worse. Numerous incidents in the years since however leave little hope that we’ve seen the last of such pathetic readiness to jump on board a guru’s bandwagon.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

@Psyops. There is no pain when one gets hanged. How do I know?

If you practice the fighting art of Judo and you get choked out by

your opponent you won't feel any pain.

Gerart

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Not closure, justice.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

For those who believe this brings closure - on tv tonight 2 victims family members - one case a wife and another a father, both said nothing has changed. The sorrow, despair and questioning why, still remains.

I'm sure many other victims families can never escape from the tragedy and the executions don't fix anything.

After the first executions, some have said, that after all this time it just brings up the horror again. Nothing brings back their loved ones.

People spouting closure are probably commenting on their own closure (finally the story is over) as observers from the sidelines.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Im fine with the death penalty for scum. No problem whatsoever.

What about those who denigrate a religion at every opportunity? What punishment for them?

Inciting hatred at every chance... are they any better than Aum, do you think?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Some people here really getting wood over this.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

@jimizo

bloodlust and revenge *

You sure like that phrase, even when it doesn’t apply. The point is not about revenge, it’s about justice. If a person plans and carries out mass murder, they have given up their right to be a member of society, and in fact have gone out of their way to destroy it, all with the knowledge that their actions will bring about their own destruction.

There is a relatively simple distinction to be made between the killing of an innocent person by a murderer and the killing of a murderer by society. And to be sure, the death penalty is something that enjoys he support of greater Japanese society, whether you agree with it or not. If you cannot understand the distinction to be made between these two things and how “blood lust” is the least important element in this question, maybe you truly wouldn’t mind living next to one of these Aum folks. Besides, how does one individual atone for the killing of thirteen if not by paying with one’s own life. It’s the bare minimum as far as potential justice is concerned. After all these guys can’t be hanged and brought back to life 13 times can they.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

In principle for I am against the death penalty, for the same reason as Jimizo above. I don't think a government should have that sort of power.

Civilised behaviour.

However, he loses me when he claims to be more civilized for that reason. Civilized people don't brag about being civilized. Generally, when people have claimed to be more civilized, it is said while pillaging and colonizing another culture. Civilized people can have very good reasons for supporting the death penalty.

Despite my dislike for the death penalty, I find it hard to work up much sympathy for most of those who receive it. There are some people the world is better off without.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Death Penalty in japan often had been used politically. 

Japanese Authorities leaked information about this executions to Japan's "Press Club" media beforehand unlike other death penalty.

Japanese Major TV Stations treated This Death Penalty Executions like Hunting Show or Entertainment.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Glad to see Japan still hangs their criminals. Rope is much cheaper.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

If there was a shred of doubt I would be against the death penalty.

There's never supposed to be a shred of doubt when anyone is given the death penalty. How do you determine when there is a shred of doubt, when there is never a shred of doubt?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

If there was a shred of doubt I would be against the death penalty. In the case of the AUM 13, there is NO doubt their crime was heinous and callous, a complete disregard of human life. Their punishment was just. It’s a shame carrying out the death penalty won’t bring back the victims or erase the harm done by their actions.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

A person's natural bloodlust for revenge is perfectly understandable, a state acting according to the same impulses is not.

The Japanese state does no act with natural bloodlust. The defendants get a trail, and a council to defend them. Then there is a lengthy appeal procedure.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Im fine with the death penalty for scum. No problem whatsoever.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

I'd have preferred that they spent the rest of their natural life at hard labor.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I generally find that people opposed to the death penalty have never been victims themselves. It has never happened to them.

I'd say the vast majority of those who support it have never been victims either but no matter. I'm against cap-pun, but if someone hurt my child I'd want to remove their entrails with a dull fork, no matter the consequences. Is that rational or civilized, no. Would it assuage my grief in any way, no. Would it provide me with some primeval, fleeting satisfaction, perhaps.

But I still don't support cap-pun, full stop. A person's natural bloodlust for revenge is perfectly understandable, a state acting according to the same impulses is not.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Because killing people doesn't solve anything ? Just wreaking vengeance.

Vengeance is a natural human emotion when a person is the victim of a heinous crime.

It is very easy for somebody who has never been a victim to trump off their moral superiority and sit on the moral highground.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

EppeeToday  12:03 pm JST

Because killing people doesn't solve anything ? Just wreaking vengeance.

It does give the victims a closure and comfort knowing that these lunatics are no longer breathing. Whats the point of keeping them alive?

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

I generally find that people opposed to the death penalty have never been victims themselves. It has never happened to them.

It is good to see that Japans Justice Minister has considered the suffering of the victims and their families while having to make a very difficult decision.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

"If you kill, then you must be killed"

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

death penalty so barbaric and doesn't work should be some other way

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Lawyer Taro Takimoto, who was subjected to an Aum sarin attack, said the latest executions were "cruel," writing on his blog he wondered how the six executed Thursday must have felt during the 20 days since Asahara and the first six were hanged.

Misplaced sympathy by a dumb lawyer. How about thinking about the way the victims and their families felt for the last 20+ year after the attack knowing that some of these people were on the run for a while, while they sociopath leader sat in prison probably laughing at the police for not being able to find them. I can't belief he has the gonads to even feel any bit of sympathy for these murderers.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

That's what you'd be doing if these mass murderers were allowed to live, and on your yen too

I don’t want the government acting like the likes of China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Somalia and the more third world states of the US with my taxes.

Where is your concern for the victims?

What does primitive bloodlust and revenge solve? It’s no surprise that many of the world’s most eager executioners are primitive religious headbangers.

Decent people and societies should be past this.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

@Fagui Curtain

The plebeans got their thirst of blood fulfilled

@Jimizo

Enjoy the neighborhood

That's what you'd be doing if these mass murderers were allowed to live, and on your yen too. All this worry about some killers. Where is your concern for the victims?

2 ( +9 / -7 )

I would have done it the day after conviction.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Pure evil. Good riddence.

8 ( +12 / -4 )

The plebeans got their thirst of blood fulfilled

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

I don't see how capital punishment can be abolished like in Europe as long as people like aum and terrorists still exists.

Civilised behaviour.

I’d hate to see my country join the likes of China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia in the execution stakes. Despots, bully-boys and backward theocrats.

Enjoy the neighborhood.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

Good, the trash has been disposed of at last.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

The victimis and/or their families live on, though thankful that the criminals are gone - forever! Some criminals deserve this harsh punishment!

4 ( +7 / -3 )

When you give out death deliberately and calculatedly...you deserve it yourself! May they rot.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

some people just aren't worth the space they take up...

8 ( +11 / -3 )

I don't condone the death penalty 100%, but it had to happen. Killing people doesn't solve anything. However, how can we keep them alive if they have the privilege to live off our tax money when there are thousands just trying to get by with little or no support? My idea would be to put them to work to work for their support without the help of tax money.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Joe YanToday 11:34 am JST

I don't see how capital punishment can be abolished like in Europe as long as people like aum and terrorists still exists.

Because killing people doesn't solve anything ? Just wreaking vengeance.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Why did they wait? Maybe 13 is an unlucky number? Maybe dropping 13 simultaneously smacks of overkill? Appearance is all to politicians, ever sensitive to criticism, so maybe 13 was just plain indecent? We'll never know, but justice is, truth be told, an alternative spelling of politics.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I don't see how capital punishment can be abolished like in Europe as long as people like aum and terrorists still exists.

2 ( +12 / -10 )

"That was FAST" ?! TWENTY YEARS was FAST ?

It was due process. It's not like these people were out living fun happy lives for the past 20 years. They sat on death row wondering when that day would come. Then the Japanese cleaned up everything, all investigations, all trials, all appeals, and now they've taken them out.

I'm critical of may parts of the Japanese legal system, but I think that if they are going to execute people, the process in this time was done correctly.

6 ( +12 / -6 )

Good riddance to the lot, should have been done years ago.

13 ( +22 / -9 )

Good riddance. These were bad people.

15 ( +23 / -8 )

"That was FAST" ?! TWENTY YEARS was FAST ?

Twenty years MORE than their victims got.

15 ( +22 / -7 )

"Hang 'em HIGH" Good job.

4 ( +15 / -11 )

Hanging?  Dude, that is savings right there! In the US we pay waaaaaay too much for the lethal injection.  A rope and a tree is much better and doesn't matter if the death row inmate feels pain.  If they are on death row then they deserve it. :)

0 ( +17 / -17 )

that was fast

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Excellent news.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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