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| Execution chamber at Tokyo Detention Center |
Justice Minister Satsuki Eda said Friday it is time to study whether to abolish the death penalty amid international calls to abandon capital punishment. "I think now is the time, from a global point of view, to look into whether it is good or not to maintain capital punishment," Eda said at a news conference.
But he did not elaborate on if he would suspend executions while the study is under way, only saying, "I will consider it carefully." He also said capital punishment is an irreparable penalty because it claims human lives.
Eda, a judge-turned-politician who also served as House of Councillors president, joined the cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a reshuffle last week, replacing Yoshito Sengoku as justice minister.
Last Friday, Eda told reporters after assuming the portfolio, "Capital punishment is a flawed penalty."
According to the London-based Amnesty International, 139 countries and territories—more than 2/3 of nations—have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, while 58 keep it.
Source: Japan Today, January 21, 2011
Japan to consider abolishing death penalty
Japan’s new justice minister, a veteran opponent of capital punishment, has ordered his staff to consider scrapping the death penalty. "The time has come to look at the global situation and consider whether it is good to have this [death penalty] system," said Satsuki Eda, who was named justice minister in a cabinet reshuffle last week.
A study group set up by the justice ministry would consider abolition under its review of capital punishment, said Mr Eda, who is the 4th person to serve as justice minister since the ruling Democratic party’s landmark general election win in September 2009.
Japanese campaigners against the death penalty suffered a setback last year when the DPJ's 1st justice minister, Keiko Chiba, put aside her long-standing opposition to capital punishment and authorised the hanging of 2 murderers.
Mr Eda appears markedly more willing than Ms Chiba or her two successors to publicly question the use of capital punishment. In his first press conference last week Mr Eda described it as a “defective” punishment, highlighting the impossibility of undoing erroneous executions.
However, the weakness of the DPJ government and high levels of public support for the death penalty mean rapid action is unlikely.
Some human rights activists are concerned that notoriously conservative justice ministry bureaucrats will be able to dominate the review.
"Currently the study group is set up inside the Ministry of Justice, and this means it is likely to back the current practice," said Makoto Teranaka, secretary-general of Amnesty International. Mr Teranaka was also disappointed that Mr Eda had not announced a moratorium on executions.
Even if the review stops short of recommending abolition, it could clear the way for changes to the secretive system under which prisoners are kept in near-isolation – sometimes for decades – with no way of knowing if it is their last day.
Amnesty has accused Japan of breaking its commitment to international standards by executing mentally ill prisoners and has protested against the restrictive regime under which it says condemned prisoners are not allowed to move around cells, apart from toilet visits.
The number of people sentenced to death in Japan fell to 14 last year from 20 in 2009, but the slow pace of executions means that the number of death row inmates has reached 111, the highest since 1949.
Source: Financial Times, January 21, 2011
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