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China-Japan-Koreas |
Four prisoners executed in Japan |
2006-12-25 |
Four prisoners on death row in Japan have been hanged, the country's justice ministry has said. They are the country's first executions under Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. It has been reported that those hanged included a taxi driver convicted of four murders. The last hanging in Japan was in September 2005. Japan, like the United States, is one of the world's few developed countries to exercise capital punishment. The inmates have been identified as Yoshimitsu Akiyama, Yoshio Fujinami, Michio Fukuoka and Hiroaki Hidaka. Kyodo News and Jiji Press report that Hidaka, a taxi driver in Hiroshima, was convicted of murdering a girl and three women. Akiyama, 77, was said to be the oldest and had spent the longest time of the four on death row, having been sentenced in 1987, Kyodo added. Under former Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura, no execution orders were signed during his 11 months in office, because he said they went against his Buddhist beliefs. But he was replaced by Jinen Nagase three months ago, when Mr Abe took office. Japan has faced international criticism for giving inmates little notice that they will be executed, so as to prevent last-minute appeals. Critics have also noted that Japan conducts executions while parliament is in recess, allegedly to avoid debate on the topic. The last session of parliament ended on Tuesday. |
Posted by:john |
#8 #5 - considering some of the bullshit we see surrounding executions, that works for me. |
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-12-25 20:35 |
#7 I wonder if any of these murderers grimaced, blinked, or licked his lips. Maybe PM Abe will suspend executions if they did. |
Posted by: GK 2006-12-25 18:20 |
#6 Merry Christmas and a happy noose year. [shudders with creepin' willies] |
Posted by: Mike 2006-12-25 18:13 |
#5 The Japanese have an unusual way of execution. When you are sentenced to death, you are given a year's window in which it will take place, unannounced. Any day that year, without warning to you or anyone else, they take you out and hang you. Only after you are dead is your family or the press informed. |
Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-25 18:09 |
#4 Nuclear test # 2? I get it, you're referring to test # 1 at a site called Trinity; Hiroshima would be test # 2 with Nagasaki being # 3, and Tehran # ... oh, we're not there yet. |
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden 2006-12-25 15:04 |
#3 I'm surprised that the MSM missed an opportunity to tie the site of nuclear test #2 (Hiroshima) with the obvious mental instability of the taxi driver. |
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 2006-12-25 14:01 |
#2 Somebody's been very naughty this year! |
Posted by: Clainter Grolung2455 2006-12-25 12:26 |
#1 Gawd.. a noose for christmas morning... stay out of Santa's bad book |
Posted by: john 2006-12-25 12:09 |