Amnesty International Japan denounced the Justice Ministry's...

Amnesty International Japan denounced the Justice Ministry's latest execution of a prisoner, the third person to be hanged under Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, which also drew a lawmaker protest. In a statement, the human rights organization said it "deeply regrets that the execution was, just as before, conducted without any previous notice." With the international community moving toward the abolition of the death penalty, the group called on Japan to review its entire criminal system and abolish capital punishment. The group said that it was time that Japan reflect on whether it is right to impose the death penalty on people convicted of heinous crimes. Shinji Mukai, 42, was convicted of killing two housewives and a child in Hyogo Prefecture's Himeji and Kobe in 1985. He had been on death row at the Osaka detention center since 1996.