Entries tagged with “Japan”
Innocence
,International
,Oct 01, 2024
Citing Misconduct, Japanese Court Formally Exonerates Iwao Hakamada of 1966 Murder After 46 Years on Death Row
On September 26, 2024, a Japanese court formally acquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada (pictured), who was wrongfully sentenced to death in 1968 for the murder of his former boss and family in Shizuoka, Japan. After 46 years on death row, and another decade of litigation, Judge Kunii Tsuneishi of the Shizuoka District Court ruled that blood-stained clothing used to convict Mr. Hakamada was fabricated long after the murders. “The court cannot accept the fact that the blood stain would remain…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,May 01, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Uganda, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe
Missouri’s April 9th execution of Brian Dorsey, despite widespread support for his clemency, once again garnered condemnation from the European Union, which described it as a “inhuman and degrading practice.” The EU’s statement highlighted the lack of the death penalty as a deterrent and the irreversibility of the punishment, noting that 197 death-sentenced prisoners have been exonerated. “The EU continues to call for the universal abolition of the death penalty and for States, that maintain…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Methods of Execution
,Feb 07, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Ghana, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe
The January 25, 2024 execution of Kenneth Smith in the state of Alabama with nitrogen gas received widespread international condemnation. The European Union reiterated its commitment to abolishing the death penalty and called the execution method a “particularly cruel and unusual punishment.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated: “I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Jan 24, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Yemen
The University of Oxford Death Penalty Research Unit, in collaboration with several human rights nonprofits, recently launched a database of foreign nationals sentenced to death or executed from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 in Asia and the Middle East. They found that Saudi Arabia leads the Middle East in sentencing foreign nationals to death (385 people) and drug-trafficking (283), closely followed by murder (257), are the top crimes for which foreign nationals in the region are…
Policy Issues
International
,Jan 05, 2024
Japan Performed No Executions in 2023, Making U.S. the Only G7 Country to Use Capital Punishment Last Year
The United States and Japan are the only two retentionist countries among the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized democracies. But Japan did not carry out any executions in 2023 and imposed just three new death sentences. The pause meant that the U.S. was the only G7 nation to perform any executions in…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Jul 05, 2023
Worldwide Wednesday’s International Roundup: China, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and UAE
A total of 68 executions have occurred in Saudi Arabia this year, with more than 20 executions relating to terrorism charges occurring since early May, according to Agence France-Presse. On July 3, five men, including one Egyptian national, were executed for a deadly attack on a house of worship in the Al-Ahsa governorate, resulting in five dead and several injured. On June 25, two Yemeni nationals were executed on terrorism charges, and on June 12, three Saudi men were executed for the…
Policy Issues
International
,Time on Death Row
,Mar 20, 2023
INTERNATIONAL: Longest Serving Death Row Prisoner in the World Has Case Reversed
On March 13, 2023 in Japan, Tokyo’s High Court granted a retrial for Iwao Hakamada, a former boxer known as the “longest serving death row” prisoner in the world. He was convicted of murder in 1968. Hideaki Nakagawa, Director of Amnesty International Japan, described the ruling as a “long-overdue chance to deliver some justice to…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Nov 15, 2021
Death-Row Prisoners in Japan Sue Over Same-Day Notice of Executions
Two Japanese death-row prisoners have filed a lawsuit alleging that the country’s long-criticized practice of notifying prisoners of their execution the same day they are to be put to death is “inhumane” and violates the nation’s…