A little known fact about Japan is that it carries out the death penalty.
Executions in Japan are by hanging and are carried out in secret. Prisoners
face the fear of execution every day. They are only informed of their
execution a few hours before the sentence is carried out. Prisoners are held
in solitary confinement and have very limited access to the outside world,
as a result many inmates develop mental disorders. Families of prisoners are
informed of their loved ones’ execution only after it has taken place.
AI has received reports that at least eight of the 61 current death row
inmates in Japan may be innocent. Forced confessions extracted through
torture during pre-trial detention, prosecutorial misconduct and cases of
mistaken evidence and identification mean that death-row inmates can be
wrongly convicted.
Hakamada Iwao (m), (aged 68), claims that he was beaten and forced to
confess to murdering four people. Hakamada has consistently maintained that
during interrogation he was denied food and water; refused access to a
toilet; was kicked and punched; his arms and ears were twisted, he was
dragged by the hair; subjected to sleep deprivation and denied access to
medicine and medical treatment. Hakamada suffers from severe mental illness
after spending over 38 years in detention. He is unable to recognize his
sister or to understand that he is on death row. His application for a
re-trial was rejected this year, despite high expectation that his innocence
would be revealed at re-trial.
"I could do nothing but crouch down on the floor trying to keep from
defecating. At that moment one of the interrogators put my thumb onto an
inkpad, drew it to a written confession record and ordered me, write your
name here!, shouting at me, kicking me and wrenching my arm.”
Hakamada Iwao, death-row inmate, taken from a letter to his sister.
Amnesty International believes that the death penalty is the ultimate cruel,
inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the right to life. It is
irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent.
Studies reveal that the death penalty is ineffective as a tool to curb
serious crime. In Japan there was no increase in crime during the three
years when executions were not carried out: between November 1989 and March
1993 two Japanese Ministers of Justice declined to sign execution orders
because of their personal opposition to the death penalty. Executions
recommenced in March 1993, the most recent occurring in September 2004 when
two inmates were hanged.
The global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty now makes Japan
one of only two “Group of Eight” major industrialised countries to retain
this inhuman and degrading punishment (the other is the USA). Japan has been
heavily criticised for imposing the death penalty by the Council of Europe,
where Japan has Observer Status. By imposing the death penalty, particularly
due to the way it is imposed and carried out in Japan, Japan has violated
international treaties to which it is state party, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.
Write to:
Mr MACHIMURA Nobutaka
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8919
Japan
(Salutation: Dear Minister)
Fax No: + 81 3 6402 2796 (General Administration Unit)
e-mail: webmaster@mofa.go.jp
Ms NOONO Chieko
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
1-1-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8977
Japan
(Salutation: Dear Minister)
Fax No: +81 3 3592-7088 OR 5511 7200
e-mail: webmaster@moj.go.jp
