AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
AI Index ASA 22/003/2000
News Service Nr. 108

6 June 2000
Japan:  Secret executions

Up to nine prisoners under sentence of death may be executed secretly in
Japan on or around 9 June, Amnesty International warned today calling on
the government to declare an immediate moratorium on all executions.

     "The prisoners, their lawyers and their families are unable to 
obtain official confirmation of the names of those scheduled for 
execution. If the Japanese government is not ashamed of the death 
penalty, why do they continue to execute in secret?" Amnesty 
International asked.

     There are fears that the Minister of Justice could already have 
signed the order for these executions on 5 June and that they are 
intended to signal the government is tough on crime ahead of 
parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 June.

     The Japanese government orders the executions of prisoners every
summer and winter, when the Diet (parliament) is in recess to avoid 
public and parliamentary reactions to the use of the death penalty.

     The arbitrary selection of prisoners for executions by the Ministry
of Justice is seen to be an attempt to minimize public opposition to the
death penalty.

     Three of the nine had appealed for clemency, one of which was 
rejected in late May 2000. The outcomes of the other two are not known. 
Four of the nine submitted habeas corpus petitions in December 1999, and
 another lodged an appeal for a retrial.

     As in similar cases in 1999, Amnesty International fears their
executions will go ahead even though these appeals have reportedly not 
yet been decided.

     Citing biased Japanese government surveys, advocates of the death
penalty in Japan claim that public support for the death penalty is
overwhelming.  However, there was no significant opposition in Japan to 
the de facto moratorium on executions of 1989-93.  There are currently 
around 100 people under sentence of death in Japan.

     Many members of Japan's large anti-death penalty movement intend to
picket the four detention centres where the nine prisoners are being 
held. A press conference calling for an end to executions in law and 
practise will be organized by Amnesty International Japanese Section
and other anti-death penalty groups.

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amnesty international Japan
  
  
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