Tokyo (AsiaNews) – April 23, in the prisons of Tokyo Osaka and Fukuoka, Masahiro Tanaka (42), Kosaka Nada (56) e Yoshikatsu Oda (59) were put to death after the Justice Minister, Jinen Nagase, signed their execution order.  

The three were responsible for eight murders, all motivated by material gain.  The homicide committed by Nada is of particularly hateful origins: he killed the wife of a colleague and threw his fur year old child into a river.  

This was the second series of executions authorized by Nagase since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed him minister, in September of last year.  In the previous round last December, four prisoners were hanged.  Before that there had been no executions for over 15 months. His predecessor, Seiken Sugiura, a devout Buddhist, had always refused to sign the warrant for execution during the 11 month period he held the post.  

The news of the executions provoked immediate protests from parliament and activists against the death penalty.  The fact that the minister signed the decrees while Parliament was in session is also perplexing, as it is a rare occurrence.  Either way in both cases he did so on the eve of long public holidays, that of the New Year and “golden week”, a long period of rest at the beginning of May.  In this way he rid himself of having to face opposition criticism.  

Yet I feel that there is an even greater political motivation. Mass media had brought to light the fact that prisoners within Japanese prisons awaiting the death penalty now numbered over 100.  Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty International Japan, told journalists that “the three hangings were probably carried out to diminish the number of prisoners who are currently on death row”.  He also warned against the lack of prudent judgement before the signing of the decrees.

 “Building an attractive Japan” is the campaign slogan used by the current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In view of this he has chosen his cabinet.  The zealous new minister for justice must think that clearing Japans prisons of particularly ugly criminals is a virtuous act.   

Ironically, on the very day of these executions, in Rome a representative of  Amnesty international revealed a report stating that in 2006 the use capital punishment worldwide diminished by 25%, from 2,148 executions in 2005 to 1,591 in 2006. “This – he added – increases our hope that one day it will be abolished altogether”.

The Japan Times underlines that Italy, in the aftermath of the execution of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, began an energetic worldwide imitative to abolish the death penalty, with the full backing of the European Union: in none of the 27 member states is the death penalty legal.

With the return to capital executions Japan has dampened hopes and taken a step backwards towards the past.  If it really seeks to become a leader in global diplomacy, it will have to start reading the signs of the times and adapting to them.