Dear Honorable Chieko Noono

I am writing to express my concern about the continued use of the death penalty in Japan.

I was particularly shocked at the way death sentences are carried out in Japan: by hanging, in secrecy with no public debate and where a detainee is only told of their imminent execution a few hours before it is carried out. Often detainees are denied access to a lawyer and their families are only informed of the execution after it has been carried out.

Many death-row inmates in Japan have reportedly confessed to a crime they did not commit due to severe ill-treatment amounting to torture during long periods of interrogation. This has resulted in grave miscarriages of justice since the judiciary in Japan seems to place a great deal of emphasis on a ‘confession’ as evidence in a trial.

I would like to bring your attention to the case of Hakamada Iwao, who is currently suffering from severe mental illness, Hakamada has consistently maintained that he was beaten and forced to confess to murdering four people It is worrying that people who may be innocent are convicted and can be put to death on the basis of a confession extracted through torture. Hakamada has spent over 38 years in solitary confinement – every day he has lived with the fear that he may be hanged.

The death penalty is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. I urge you to order an independent investigation into death penalty cases where prisoners are reported to have been ill-treated and denied access to legal counsel during police questioning.

Japan should take the lead in promoting the universal application of human rights and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

I call on the Japanese government to cease all executions, impose no further death sentences and commute existing death sentences pending a public and parliamentary debate on the use of the death penalty.

Yours sincerely,

Kath Talmage
Member of Foreign Prisoner Support Service ( FPSS )
Member of Amnesty International Urgent Action Group