Japan steps up executions

2008-04-10 10:20

Tokyo - Japan on Thursday hanged four convicted murderers as it steps up the pace of executions, an official said.

Japan is the only major industrial country other than the United States to use the death penalty. The government has said public opinion has demanded that they increase the pace of its executions.

The justice ministry executed four people aged 41 to 64 in different places in Japan, a justice ministry official said. All of them were convicted of murder.

One of the executed inmates, Kaoru Okashita, 61, was convicted of killing two people including an 82-year-old woman with whom he had a property dispute.

Okashita, who also went by the surname Akinaga, later wrote traditional tanka poetry from his death-row cell in which he expressed remorse over his crimes and reflected on life waiting to die.

Japan has come under fire for telling inmates of their executions only shortly before they are taken to the gallows in a bid to prevent last-minute appeals.

"It is unforgivable that the execution was conducted secretly this time again," said Makoto Teranaka, an official at the Japanese branch of rights group Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty.

Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has now signed off on 10 executions since taking over last year, marking the fastest pace of hangings since Japan ended a three-year de facto moratorium on the death penalty in 1993.

"Observing the current pace of executions, we can't help but predict a huge number of executions this year, which goes totally against the world trend of abolishing capital punishment and is a shame for Japan," Teranaka said.

- AFP