Posted on 02/01/2008 4:23:32 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Three Japanese prisoners executed
Three death row prisoners have been executed in Japan, the authorities have announced.
The justice ministry identified the men as convicted murderers Masahiko Matsubara, 63, Takashi Mochida, 65, and Keishi Nago, 37.
They were hanged at separate prisons in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.
Human rights groups are critical of the secrecy surrounding executions in Japan, one of the few industrialised countries to retain the death penalty.
Relatives are told only after the hangings have taken place and this is just the second time the names of those executed have been publicly announced.
The first was in December 2007, when three men were executed.
Campaigners remain critical of Japan's continued use of the death penalty, but opinion polls suggest the policy is supported by an overwhelming majority of Japan's population.
"For extremely vicious criminal cases, public opinion holds that death sentences must be handed down and carried out," Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said.
"We have considered a variety of factors so that we can carry out executions in a methodical manner, rather than thinking about the intervals and the timing," he said.
Nine people were executed in Japan in 2007. Friday's three executions are the first this year.
Ping!
Hanging - that is SOOO cruel and unusual /end sarcasm
“Next!”
They are critical of the openness of executions in the U.S. as well.
weird thing is, they only do executions once in a blue moon, and to be honest im not sure if thats a good or a bad thing.
Let me just say that I trust the Japanese a Hell of a lot more than the BBC in virtually anything.
Relatives are told only after the hangings have taken place
Neato! That is the way to do it. No fuss and no muss. Why can't we do it this way?
I think it is a very good thing for two reasons. Obviously, their death row is quite small and the second these poor sobs have NO IDEA when they will be executed. Can you imagine them being paranoid and terror stricken each time they hear footsteps? Payback is a b.tch!
Russians use to do the same (still might). The prisoner might sit in his cell for months and suddenly the little window in his cell door would open and he would be shot! The family found out about it when the got the bill for the bullet.
Americans have lost the skill in this fine art to such an extent that when Washington state had to perform a hanging some years ago, they had to send for a hangman from Singapore.
I would prefer death row inmates to have a place in their cell where they can stand on a line, push a button and a bullet goes through their skull.
And I’m sure that most prisoners would jump at that suggestion. /s
Make them think about it for the rest of their sorry a$$ lives. Agonize over it every day. They can take their life right there. Over and done with.
The article says "The justice ministry identified the men as convicted murderers Masahiko Matsubara, 63, Takashi Mochida, 65, and Keishi Nago, 37. " I don't recall offhand the death sentence being given for any other crime in Japan except for murder convictions although I imagine there might be some other heinous crimes that might also have that penalty.
Or, they could read comic books, watch TV and ignore that button for the rest of their sorry lives. ;-)
Mochida, 65, was executed for the 1997 murder of a woman he had raped eight years earlier. The ministry said the murder was in revenge for reporting the rape, for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Matsubara, 63, was convicted of killing, raping and robbing two women in separate cases in 1988 after he broke into their homes.
In one case, he knocked a 61-year-old woman on the floor, strangled her with an electrical chord, raped her and stole $260. About two months later, Matsubara broke into another home and strangled, raped and robbed a 44-year-old woman.
Nago, 37, was convicted of stabbing to death his brother’s 40-year-old wife and 17-year-old daughter with a dozen thrusts of a sashimi knife. He also attacked his brother’s 13-year-old son, but the boy survived.
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