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| Secret Executions in Japan Criticized |
| By Kyodo News |
| Published: 10/03/2005 |
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A legal battle to break the secrecy surrounding executions in Japan is set to start Friday at the Tokyo District Court. Osaka lawyer Tomoyoshi Emura will argue in the first hearing of his lawsuit that it was unacceptable for the Justice Ministry to reject his request to disclose the execution chamber layout at the Osaka detention center. Hearings of two other lawsuits will also start at the district court soon, with lawyers seeking disclosure of government documents including execution orders and execution reports. The plaintiffs say they expect the three suits to be examined together eventually. Japan maintains a highly secretive policy when it comes to carrying out executions - death row inmates are only told they face the gallows on the morning of the day of their execution and family members are notified after the fact. For the public, the government only discloses the number of executed inmates but not their identities. The government also refuses to show execution facilities not only to the public but also to lawyers and the press, although it allowed a group of lawmakers in July 2003 to inspect the facility at the Tokyo detention center. It was the first time in some 30 years that a gallows was opened to outside inspection. The lawyers requested the Justice Ministry between November 2003 and February 2004 to release to them the execution chamber layout as well as other administrative documents on several executions, based on the information disclosure law. The ministry declined to disclose almost all the requested information, leading them to file the suits. On the government's stance that disclosing execution reports would undermine inmates' mental stability as they contain executed inmates' last wills and how their bodies are dealt with afterwards, the lawyers said such concerns are groundless. He said he was surprised to learn that the correction department in the U.S. state of North Carolina carries the names and photos of death row inmates as well as their execution schedules on its website. The lawyers' efforts to seek disclosure of the information have not been entirely fruitless. They have learned of the existence of a document that shows a justice minister had rescinded an execution order. The Japan Federation of Bar Associations adopted a resolution at its annual human rights meeting in October last year urging the government to suspend executions until it drastically improves problems surrounding the death penalty and discloses more information about them. Japan and the United States are among 76 countries that maintained capital punishment as of December last year, while there is no death penalty in 120 countries. |
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