Tag - death-penalty

 
 

DEATH PENALTY

Japan's new justice minister Hideki Makihara says abolishing the death penalty would be "inappropriate."
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024
New justice minister says scrapping death penalty 'inappropriate'
Capital punishment has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.
A Taiwanese sailor aboard a Taiwan Navy vessel looks toward a Chinese warship while navigating on waters off Taiwan's western coast, in this handout image released last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 22, 2024
China threatens death penalty for 'diehard' Taiwan separatists
Even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the island, the threat is a ratcheting up of pressure.
Supporters of the second retrial request for the so-called Iizuka incident hold up signs in the city of Fukuoka on Wednesday criticizing the Fukuoka District Court's decision to reject it.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2024
Japan court rejects retrial for 1992 murder of two girls
The defense is set to appeal against the latest decision. So far, no decision has been made in Japan to grant a retrial of a convict already executed.
Protestors rally against capital punishment in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington in June 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 29, 2024
Number of executions in 2023 highest in nearly a decade, Amnesty says
The 1,153 known executions that took place last year were the most recorded by the global rights monitor since 2015.
Manahel al-Otaibi wears western clothes in the Saudi capital Riyadh in September 2019. Human rights groups have denounced an 11-year prison term recently handed down by a counterterrorism court to the Saudi fitness instructor and women's rights activist.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024
Saudi Arabia cracks down on online speech, jailing critics for decades
Fitness influencer Manahel al-Otaibi was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison after criticizing male guardianship laws and women's dress requirements.
Two plaintiffs filed a lawsuit with Osaka District Court in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2024
Death-row inmates' lawsuit targeting same-day notifications of executions dismissed
The judge said the plaintiffs' social standing — being death row inmates — doesn't allow them to avoid execution when they are notified.
A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a sign in London on Tuesday. Assange's many supporters hail him as an anti-establishment hero who is being persecuted for exposing U.S. wrongdoing and alleged war crimes.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2024
Julian Assange wins temporary reprieve from extradition to U.S.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange on trial under the Espionage Act over WikiLeaks' high-profile release of confidential U.S. records.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2024
Death sentence overturned for Kudokai gang boss
The criminal mastermind remained expressionless and stared directly at the judge as it was announced that the death sentence had been overturned.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 2, 2024
Death sentence finalized for man over 2021 murder committed as minor
The defense team for Yuki Endo filed an appeal at the deadline Thursday, but the defendant withdrew it later in the day, the Kofu District Court said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2024
Kyoto Animation arsonist files appeal against death sentence
A Kyoto District Court spokesman on Friday confirmed that the defense team was appealing the ruling.
A man prays on July 19, 2019, outside the Kyoto Animation building where 36 people died in a fire caused by Shinji Aoba the previous day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024
Possible death penalty looms for Kyoto Animation arson suspect
The trial shed light on his upbringing, the emergence of his grudge against the studio and how he went ahead with his plan of attack despite some hesitation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
In first, 'specified juvenile' handed death sentence over Kofu murder
It is the first time a defendant age 18 or 19 at the time of a crime has been given the death penalty following the lowering of the age of adulthood.
Visitors walk through the gas chamber during a tour of the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2013.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 11, 2024
U.S. judge allows first nitrogen-gas execution to proceed
U.S. states have found it increasingly difficult to obtain barbiturates used in lethal-injection execution protocols, in part because of a European ban.
The front page of The Japan Times from Nov. 13, 1948, heralds the verdicts given to Japan's war criminals.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Nov 3, 2023
Japan Times 1948: Tojo and 6 others are sentenced to hang
As sentences are handed down in 1948, two other eras deal with fallout from an earthquake and an oil shock.
“The Burden of the Past” is based on the real-life experiences of ex-cons and the editorial team of a magazine that supports former prisoners in finding jobs and reentering society.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2023
'The Burden of the Past' addresses bleak reality of ex-cons with some hope
Atsushi Funahashi’s film is grounded in the director’s own research about the hurdles former prisoners face when attempting to rejoin society.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 17, 2023
Global executions highest in five years, Amnesty International says
Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia carried out 90% of the executions recorded last year, the rights group said. The numbers did not include China, it said, citing a lack of transparency.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 27, 2023
Singapore hangs prisoner over 1 kilogram of cannabis
Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged in defiance of a plea by the United Nations Human Rights Office for Singapore to 'urgently reconsider' and calls by British tycoon Richard Branson to halt it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 23, 2023
Family of Singaporean on death row for cannabis pleads for clemency
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was sentenced to death in 2018 for conspiring to smuggle drugs and the Court of Appeal has upheld his sentence, which is scheduled to be carried out Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 15, 2023
Iran executes British Iranian dual national accused of spying
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was 'appalled' by the execution of the British Iranian citizen.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2022
Approving executions one of most important duties, justice minister says
Justice Minister Ken Saito assumed the post in place of Yasuhiro Hanashi, who was dismissed from the role following remarks that were interpreted as making light of his responsibilities.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years