Latest news with #Hakamata
Asahi Shimbun
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Executions around the world up 32% in 2024, says Amnesty
At least 1,518 executions were carried out worldwide in 2024, up 32 percent from the year before, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group said Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq put more people to death than ever last year. The number of countries that reported carrying out executions stood at 15, a record low, it added. The group's April 8 report also touched upon the high-profile case of Iwao Hakamata, a former death row inmate in Japan who was exonerated in a retrial last year after serving 48 years in prison. The annual document listed China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen as the countries that carried out the most executions. It described China as 'the world's lead executioner.' Figures for China, North Korea and Vietnam were estimates because they do not disclose death penalty statistics. Only two confirmed executions from these countries were included in the 2024 report. Based on the known figures, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq accounted for 91 percent of all executions around the world. Drug-related offences accounted for 42 percent of capital punishment cases. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia put more people to death than other countries for drug trafficking and drug use. Amnesty, noting that the International Covenants on Human Rights stipulates the death sentence should be imposed only for the 'most serious crimes,' took issue with those countries for using the death penalty in drug cases. It said they were 'violating international law.' It also condemned countries, including Japan, for handing the death sentence to people suffering from mental or intellectual disabilities, which it called a violation of international law. WORLD WITNESSED HAKAMATA'S VICTORY The number of countries that still carry out executions stood at 15, down one from 2023 and the lowest on record, according to Amnesty International. Armed conflict made it impossible to maintain records for Palestine, which is believed to execute people on a continual basis. According to the report, 145 countries, or three-quarters of all countries and territories, had fully or virtually abolished the death penalty by the end of 2024. Japan, which keeps capital punishment on its books while the government maintains it has overwhelming 'public support' for the practice, has not carried out a hanging since July 2022. This marks the longest hiatus since the Justice Ministry in 2007 began publicly releasing the names and other details of those executed. Referring to Hakamata as 'the world's longest-serving person on death row,' the report emphasized that prosecutors repeatedly filed motions against a retrial, which meant it took 'close to 10 years' for the process to begin. The report lambasted Japan for 'still seeking the death penalty as a possible punishment' during the retrial. Amnesty International, referring to the street across Japan calling for Hakamata's release, said 'the world witnessed the power of campaigning' when Hakamata was acquitted after a retrial in 2024. 'It is evident that the states that retain the death penalty are an isolated minority,' said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International. 'This signals a move away from this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.'
Asahi Shimbun
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Japanese mourn the loss of Pope Francis who visited in 2019
A rosary, which was given to Hakamata by the pope (Pool) Many Japanese whose lives were profoundly touched by Pope Francis mourned the pontiff's passing on April 21 at the age of 88. Francis, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign state of Vatican City, visited Japan in 2019, the first pope to do so in 38 years. In his historic four-day visit, he encouraged Iwao Hakamata, who had long languished for decades on death row after being falsely accused of murder. The pope also comforted atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. POPE BLESSES HAKAMATA Hakamata is a Catholic who was acquitted of his charges in a retrial last autumn and attended Mass when the pope visited Japan in 2019. His older sister, Hideko, 92, told reporters on the evening of April 21 following the pontiff's death that, 'We have been supported by the pope. We just pray for him.' After Hakamata was acquitted of his charges, he received a letter from the pope. Hakamata is unable to communicate with others due to mental illness he developed during the long decades of detention and relentless stress from the uncertainty of his execution date. So, his older sister Hideko responded to the media. Hakamata was baptized a Catholic in December 1984 in the Tokyo Detention House where he was imprisoned. Hideko told reporters a long time ago that, 'I believe that Iwao didn't know what to believe and became a Catholic.' When Francis visited Japan in 2019, Hakamata was unable to personally meet him, but attended the Mass in Tokyo at the pope's invitation. In addition, in February this year, after Hakamata was acquitted of his charges in a retrial in last autumn, the Roman Curia on behalf of the pope sent Hakamata a letter. The letter started with the fact that the pope was glad to hear of Hakamata's acquittal and instructed the Roman Curia to send the letter. It then went on to say that the pope hopes that Hakamata enjoys his freedom and meeting with his friends. It also said that the pope wishes that gifts from God such as wisdom, power and peace be bestowed upon him and that he blesses Hakamata. Both the pope and Hakamata were born in 1936. Hakamata received the letter during the time when the pope's poor health and hospitalization were widely reported. 'We really appreciated it,' Hideko said. ATOMIC BOMB VICTIMS IN HIROSHIMA The pope visited Hiroshima in 2019 and gave a speech calling for nuclear weapon abolition at the Peace Memorial Park there. He also spoke with hibakusha who wished for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Yoshiko Kajimoto, 94, told about her atomic bomb experiences to the pope when he visited Hiroshima. 'I felt very weak learning about his death,' she said. She doesn't remember what the pope said to her because she was too nervous. She only remembers that Francis was a 'warm, divine person.' She mourned the pope's passing, saying, 'We're deeply saddened that he passed away during such a dangerous time when wars are occurring where nuclear weapons could be used.' Toshiyuki Mimaki, 83, chairman of the Hiroshima-ken Genbaku Higaisha Dantai Kyogi-kai, an atomic bomb sufferers organization in Hiroshima Prefecture, met with the pope in front of the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb when the pontiff visited the peace memorial park. Mimaki handed a letter to the pope, which contained messages including, 'World politicians don't quit making war. Please send them a message to cease all wars.' He felt the pope's warm and calm character. He mourned Francis' death, saying that, 'I wanted him to exercise his power to make the world stable, which politicians cannot do. I wanted him to send more messages of peace to the world.' Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui remembers when the pope was giving his speech at the Peace Memorial Park and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. 'He sent a strong message to policy makers in the world and also encouraged many world citizens,' Matsui said. Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki released a statement saying that, 'Not only Catholics but also many people around the world respected him. He had a huge impact on efforts for world peace and protecting human dignity.' Yuzaki also mentioned international society where tensions over the possible use of nuclear weapons have heightened to levels never seen before. He then confirmed his determination again to make further efforts to realize nuclear weapon abolition and a sustainable peace. ATOMIC BOMB VICTIMS IN NAGASAKI Expressions of sadness and regret over the pope's death have also been heard from Nagasaki, the city that suffered an atomic bombing along with Hiroshima. When the pope visited Nagasaki in 2019, Archbishop Emeritus Mitsuaki Takami, 79, who was the archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nagasaki, looked back on the pope's journey. 'He was a peace messenger, having declared that we should do whatever it takes to realize peace, and he continued to say so until the end,' Takami said. Takami was exposed to the atomic bomb while he was still in his mother's womb. When the pope visited the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki after arriving at Nagasaki Airport, Takami accompanied him in a car. In the car, Takami showed the pope a tile that had melted in the bombing that another atomic bomb survivor had passed along to him. 'The pope frowned and looked sad,' he said. Takami reflected on that time, saying, 'It seemed that the pope had a strong feeling that there shouldn't be an atomic bomb and that the tragedy must never be repeated.' 'I strongly believe that we should carry on his will,' he added. Then Nagasaki Governor Hodo Nakamura, who met the pope on his visit to Nagasaki, also mourned Francis' death. 'He proactively sent out messages from Nagasaki about the abolition of nuclear weapons,' Nakamura said. On the day of their meeting, it was raining when he greeted the pope at the hypocenter park. 'The heavy rain could have soaked him, but he proceeded with the event as if he didn't care at all.' The weather cleared during the Mass that followed. Nakamura recalled the sudden change in weather, saying, 'It was like a miracle.' MET 2011 EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS On his visit to Tokyo during his 2019 trip, the pope also met with the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Toshiko Kato, 66, director of a Catholic kindergarten in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, spoke about her experience of the disaster with the pope at the meeting. In response to his death, she said, 'He did his job well. I pray that he rests well.' In the Great East Japan Earthquake, one child of her kindergarten died after going home. Kato's home also was swept away by the tsunami. When the pope and the victims including Kato met in 2019, she said Francis listened intently to their stories, looking into their eyes. 'I felt that he truly accepted us,' she said. Up until his death, the pope called for realizing peace in Gaza and Ukraine. Kato reflected on this call, saying that, 'He showed us his desire for peace and his sympathy for the victims.' Tokuun Tanaka, 50, head priest of Dokeiji temple in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, and an earthquake victim, also met the pope along with Kato. He remembers the meeting saying that, 'I felt his warmth and greatness, which could embrace everything.' Tanaka said that the pope told to him that, 'I want to protect all life, not just human life,' and 'You must be busy in the disaster-stricken areas. I actually wanted to go to Fukushima, instead of inviting you to Tokyo. Thank you for coming all this way and telling me this important story.' In response to the pope's death, Tanaka said, 'Thank you for all your hard work. I will embrace what I have learned from you and spend each day in a way that would please the pope.'
21-04-2025
- Politics
Japan Panel Agrees on Need to Revise Retrial System
Tokyo, April 21 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government advisory panel held its first meeting Monday to review the country's retrial system, following the acquittal of Iwao Hakamata after decades on death row. Members of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council agreed on the need for law revisions and decided to hear opinions from former prosecutors and judges, as well as lawyers who have handled past cases of convicts acquitted in retrials. The subcommittee has 14 members, including lawyer Hiroaki Murayama, who, as presiding judge in 2014, led Shizuoka District Court's decision to hold a retrial of Hakamata, 89, over the 1966 murder of a family in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan. Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing since Hakamata's acquittal last year. Under the current law, the retrial process and the criteria and procedures for disclosing evidence held by investigative agencies are not clarified, leading to criticism of the retrial system as "the door that never opens." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Japan Times
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Death penalty under renewed scrutiny in Japan
Capital punishment in Japan is under scrutiny again after the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamata, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation last month following his acquittal last year in a retrial. Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite international criticism over how it is carried out. Here are some things to know: Widespread support Japan and the United States are the only two members of the Group of Seven industrialized economies to retain the death penalty. There is overwhelming public support for the practice, and a 2024 Japanese government survey of 1,800 respondents showed 83% saw the death penalty as "unavoidable." Of them, 62% said the families of murder victims "would never feel vindicated" if the death penalty was scrapped. But the same survey — conducted around a month after Hakamata's acquittal — also found those in favor of abolition rose from 9% five years ago to 17%. Around 70% of those opposed cited the "irrevocable" consequences of executing someone wrongfully convicted. Dozens on death row As of December 2023, some 107 prisoners were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out, the Justice Ministry said. It is always done by hanging. The law stipulates that executions must be carried out within six months of a final verdict after appeals are exhausted. In reality, however, most inmates are left on tenterhooks in solitary confinement for years — and sometimes decades — with severe consequences for their mental health. An execution chamber, with its trapdoor marked by a red square, at the Tokyo Detention Center, in an undated photo released by the Justice Ministry in August 2010. | Justice Ministry / via Reuters 'Cruel' method Hanging has been Japan's sole execution method for around a century and a half. Convicts are led to the gallows blindfolded, with their feet and hands cuffed. A trapdoor opens below them when several prison officers each press a button simultaneously in an adjacent room. None is told which button triggers the deadly mechanism. Three death-row prisoners sought an injunction against the method in 2022, calling it cruel. Critics have argued that hanging is prone to botched executions and makes for an agonizing death, although the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the method isn't cruel. According to the court, capital punishment can only be considered cruel if done by "burning, crucifixion, decapitation or boiling." Recent executions More than two years have passed since Japan's last execution — reportedly the longest hiatus since 2007, when the Justice Ministry began disclosing names of those hanged. The last hanging, in July 2022, was of Tomohiro Kato, who killed seven people in 2008 when he rammed a truck into pedestrians in Tokyo's Akihabara district and then went on a stabbing spree. The high-profile executions of Aum Shinrikyo guru Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the doomsday cult took place in 2018. Aum Shinrikyo orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subway system, killing 14 people and injuring thousands more. The death penalty of Shinji Aoba, 46, whose 2019 arson attack killed 36 people at an anime studio, was finalized in January when he withdrew his appeal. 'No warning' There is widespread criticism of the system and the government's lack of transparency over the practice. Inmates are often informed of their impending death at the last minute, typically in the early morning before it happens. Some "may be given no warning at all," rights group Amnesty International once said in a report. The psychological pain of not knowing when they will be put to death prompted two prisoners to file a lawsuit against the late-notice system in 2021. No family members are allowed to witness the inmates' last moments. Still, so little information is disclosed about the system that "the public is deprived of the fundamental basis on which to form their opinions," a group of lawmakers, legal experts and crime victims said in a report in November. One possibility, the group said, is to retain the system itself but suspend its implementation pending a further review. "This is exactly what South Korea decided to do, and to date, the country isn't grappling with the rise in heinous crimes," it said.
The Independent
26-03-2025
- The Independent
Japan's longest-serving death row inmate wins record £1m after wrongful conviction
A Japanese court has awarded Iwao Hakamata, an 89-year-old former professional boxer, a record $1.4m (£1.08m) in compensation for his wrongful conviction and the 45 years he spent on death row. This marks the 'highest amount' ever granted in Japan for a miscarriage of justice, claims his legal representative Hideyo Ogawa, adding that it is a mere fraction of what he endured. 'I think the state (government) has made a mistake that cannot be atoned for with 200 million yen,' the lawyer said, according to NHK. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 for the murder of his employer, his employer's wife, and their two children in Shizuoka, central Japan. The case relied heavily on a confession he later retracted, claiming it was extracted under duress during intense police interrogations. For decades, he maintained his innocence, insisting that the evidence against him had been fabricated. Mr Hakamada was released from prison in 2014 when a court ordered a retrial based on new evidence suggesting that his conviction may have been based on fabricated accusations. He was found not guilty on 26 September last year by the Shizuoka court, which concluded that police and prosecutors collaborated in fabricating and planting evidence against him. But after spending nearly half a century in solitary confinement, the psychological damage was irreversible. His sister, Hideko Hakamata, who had campaigned relentlessly for his freedom, revealed that his prolonged incarceration had left him struggling to distinguish between reality and delusion. 'Sometimes he smiles happily, but that's when he's in his delusion,' she told CNN. 'We have not even discussed the trial with Iwao because of his inability to recognise reality.' Hakamada became the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99 per cent conviction rate and retrials are extremely rare. Following his acquittal, Japan's Prosecutor-General Naomi Unemoto expressed regret over the prolonged legal battle he faced, saying: 'We feel sorry for putting him in a legally unstable situation for an extremely long time.' The Shizuoka police department also took the rare step of issuing a formal apology, with its chief bowing deeply before Hakamata in acknowledgment of the grave miscarriage of justice. 'We are sorry to have caused you unspeakable mental distress and burden for as long as 58 years from the time of the arrest until the acquittal was finalised,' Shizuoka prefectural police chief Takayoshi Tsuda said, as he stood straight in front of Hakamada and bowed deeply. 'We are terribly sorry.'
