21, December 2021
Japan hangs three men on death row in first executions since 2019 0
Japan hanged three prisoners on Tuesday, its first executions in two years, with the government saying it was necessary to maintain capital punishment in the face of continued “atrocious crimes”.
Japan is one of the few developed countries to keep the death penalty, and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.
More than 100 people are currently on death row in Japan, most of them for mass murder. Executions are carried out by hanging, usually long after sentencing.
One of the three executed on Tuesday was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who used a hammer and knife to kill his 80-year-old aunt, two cousins and four others in 2004, a justice ministry spokeswoman told AFP.
The other two were 54-year-old Tomoaki Takanezawa, who killed two clerks at an arcade game parlour in 2003, and his accomplice Mitsunori Onogawa, 44.
The executions were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October.
“Whether to keep the death sentence or not is an important issue that concerns the foundation of Japan’s criminal justice system,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said.
“Given that atrocious crimes keep occurring one after another, it is necessary to execute those whose guilt is extremely grave so it is inappropriate to abolish capital punishment.”
Members of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations “strongly protest” Tuesday’s executions, the body’s president Tadashi Ara said in a statement.
Ara urged the government to “abolish capital punishment and stop all executions until it is abolished”.
Half a century on death row
Japan executed three death row inmates in 2019 and 15 in 2018 – including 13 from the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out a fatal 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
For decades, authorities have told death row inmates just hours before an execution is carried out.
Two prisoners are suing the government over the system, which they argue is illegal and causes psychological distress.
The pair are also seeking compensation of 22 million yen ($194,000) for the distress caused by living with uncertainty about their execution date.
In December 2020, Japan’s top court overturned a ruling blocking the retrial of a man described as the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, raising new hope for the now 85-year-old.
Iwao Hakamada has lived under a death sentence for more than half a century after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenaged children.
But he and his supporters say he confessed to the crime only after an allegedly brutal police interrogation that included beatings, and that evidence in the case was planted.
Worldwide, at least 483 people were executed last year in 18 countries, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International.
That represents a drop of around a quarter from the year before, and fits a downward trend since 2015.
The figure does not, however, include the “thousands” of executions believed to have been carried out in China, which keeps such data secret, along with North Korea and Vietnam.
Japan and the United States are the only members of the G7 group of developed countries that still use the death penalty.
Source: AFP
31, December 2021
World welcomes 2022 with muted celebrations despite Omicron fears 0
The world began ushering in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead.
The past 12 months saw a new US president and a fresh Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Myanmar and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes.
But it was the pandemic — now entering its third year — that again dominated life for most of humankind.
More than 5.4 million people have died since the coronavirus was first reported in central China in December 2019.
Countless more have been sickened — subjected to outbreaks, lockdowns, lock-ins and an alphabet spaghetti of PCR, LFT and RAT tests.
The year 2021 started with hope, as life-saving vaccines were rolled out to around 60 percent of the world’s population, although many of its poor still have limited access and some of its rich falsely believe the jabs are part of some ill-defined plot.
As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new Covid-19 cases past one million for the first time, according to an AFP tally.
France on Friday became the latest country to announce Omicron was now its dominant coronavirus strain.
In Britain, the United States, and even Australia — long a refuge from the pandemic — the variant’s prominence is driving record new cases.
To party, or not?
Parts of the Pacific nation of Kiribati became the first to welcome in the new year from 1000 GMT.
But from Seoul to San Francisco, celebrations have again been cancelled or curtailed as infections rise.
In Sydney, which in normal times bills itself as the “New Year’s Eve capital of the world”, the vast harbour where people gathered to watch the city’s fireworks was notably uncrowded.
With tourists still unable to enter the country and many residents fearful of the rapid spread of Omicron, tens of thousands were estimated to have attended, rather than the one million-plus who normally flock to the foreshore.
Still, the city saw New Year’s Eve in with a bang — igniting six tonnes of technicoloured fireworks that lit up the Opera House and floating barges, turning the Harbour Bridge rainbow-like.
“I’m just trying to focus on the positive things that happened this year, rather than dwelling on all the bad things that have happened,” 22-year-old medical student Melinda Howard told AFP as she waited for the show.
Dubai is planning a pyrotechnics spectacle at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, despite a surge of infections in the United Arab Emirates.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, municipal authorities in the Tunisian capital Tunis cited the “rise in cases” of coronavirus for the last-minute cancellation of a concert and other festivities planned for Bourguiba Avenue, the main city-centre thoroughfare.
In contrast, South Africa — the first country to report Omicron back in November — lifted a curfew late Thursday to allow festivities to go ahead.
Health officials said that a dip in infections in the past week indicated the peak of the current wave had passed — crucially without a significant increase in deaths.
‘Only one desire’
In Rio, celebrations on Copacabana Beach will go ahead in a scaled back format — though crowds of revellers are still expected at the traditional party spot.
“People have only one desire, to leave their homes, to celebrate life,” 45-year-old Copacabana beach waiter Francisco Rodrigues said.
Authorities in Seoul are showing caution, barring spectators from a traditional midnight bell-ringing that will instead be live-streamed.
In India, fearing a repeat of a devastating virus surge that overwhelmed the country in April and May, cities and states have imposed restrictions on gatherings. Delhi implemented a 10:00 pm curfew.
Mumbai police on Friday issued evening bans on people visiting public places such as the city’s beaches and seafront promenades, normally popular sites for seeing in the new year — with the restrictions set to last two weeks.
The UK also marks the new year in muted fashion, but at least does so under the warmest temperatures on record, near 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit).
Trying times
The World Health Organization has warned of trying times ahead, saying Omicron could lead to “a tsunami of cases”.
Many Western leaders have been hesitant to reimpose strict controls seen in 2020, for fear of sparking a new economic downturn.
But on-again-off-again restrictions have still prompted frequent, vocal and occasionally violent anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine and anti-government protests.
Experts and non-experts alike hope that 2022 may be remembered as a new, less deadly phase of the pandemic.
“Hopefully 2022 is going to be better for everyone,” said 31-year-old reveller Oscar Ramirez in Sydney.
“Everyone in the world needs a big change.”
Source: AFP