Four hanged on Christmas

TOKYO -- Japan hanged four prisoners Dec. 25, including two men in their 70s. The executions, the first under the new government, came 15 months after the last execution in September 2005. Japan and the United States are the only major industrialized nations that still use capital punishment.

Japan effectively had a moratorium on the death penalty under former justice minister Seiken Sugiura, who served from October 2005 until September this year. He refused to sign death warrants, saying executions violated his Buddhist beliefs. He was replaced when conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office three months ago.

The death penalty is widely supported in Japan and analysts said the government wanted to carry out executions before the year ended or 2006 would have been the first year without any hangings since 1992.

COPYRIGHT 2007 National Catholic Reporter
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning