Japan 2004
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
News on Japan in 2004
- MAY 28, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court sentenced a former doomsday cult...
The Tokyo High Court sentenced a former doomsday cult member Yoshihiro Inoue to death for a 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways, overturning a lower court ruling condemning him to life in prison
- MAY 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International highlighted reports of torture...
Amnesty International highlighted reports of torture and ill treatment of people while in custody in Japan
- MAY 21, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
An appeals court in Japan upheld a lower court's death...
An appeals court in Japan upheld a lower court's death sentence for Yasutoshi Matsuda, a 36-year-old man found guilty of robbing and murdering two women in Miyazaki Prefecture in 2001
- MAY 21, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Fukuoka High Court, Japan, quashed the death penalty...
The Fukuoka High Court, Japan, quashed the death penalty for Reiko Yamaguchi, a woman convicted of murdering her husband and son and reduced it to life imprisonment, saying she had been lured by her male accomplice and could be rehabilitated
- MAY 17, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed on former senior AUM Shinrikyo member Kiyohide Hayakawa for crimes including the murders of a lawyer and his family and of an AUM member who wanted to leave the cult
- APRIL 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The following are some replies to questions on the...
The following are some replies to questions on the death penalty put to Kazuhiko Tokoro, specialist in criminal policy and professor emeritus at Rikkyo (St
- APRIL 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
"I don't think that the government should use public...
"I don't think that the government should use public opinion as an excuse [to retain the death penalty],'' said Kyoko Otani, a Tokyo-based lawyer who had defended five death-row inmates
- APRIL 23, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Fukushima District Court, Japan, sentenced Kiyoshi...
The Fukushima District Court, Japan, sentenced Kiyoshi Ishii, a 63-year-old man, to death for setting a house on fire and killing a couple inside after quarreling with them on June 6, 2000
- APRIL 23, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Hiroshima High Court sentenced a 51-year-old Shozo...
The Hiroshima High Court sentenced a 51-year-old Shozo Nishiyama to death for committing murder and robbery in 1992 while on parole after receiving a life term for a 1973 murder
- APRIL 21, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 19, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed...
Japan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed on Wong Yeesun, a 35-year-old Malaysian national convicted of killing three people and injuring another during robberies in four prefectures in Japan in 1993
- APRIL 12, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Masumi Hayashi, convicted of murdering four people...
Masumi Hayashi, convicted of murdering four people by poisoning curry at a 1998 community festival in Wakayama, Japan, would break her silence when her appeal was heard at the Osaka High Court from April 20, her lawyers said
- APRIL 12, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offences (13) but, in practice is applied only for murder.
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offences (13) but, in practice is applied only for murder.
- APRIL 7, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Shizuka Kamei, former policy chief of Japan's ruling...
Shizuka Kamei, former policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was re-elected chairman of a Diet group against the death penalty in the country and reiterated his desire to see it abolished
- MARCH 30, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Tomoyuki Furusawa was sentenced to death by the Yokohama...
Tomoyuki Furusawa was sentenced to death by the Yokohama District Court, Japan, after being convicted of murder and illegal confinement
- MARCH 26, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Toyama District Court, Japan, sentenced Minoru...
The Toyama District Court, Japan, sentenced Minoru Ito to death for murdering a gang boss and his wife in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, in July 2000
- MARCH 26, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Tomoaki Takanezawa and Mitsunori Onogawa were sentenced...
Tomoaki Takanezawa and Mitsunori Onogawa were sentenced to death at the Saitama District Court, Japan, for murdering two pachinko parlor workers
- MARCH 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old...
The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old Shu Takahashi to death and four other people to life imprisonment for murder, robbery and other charges
- MARCH 2, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Yuji Kubota, a former insurance salesman who tried...
Yuji Kubota, a former insurance salesman who tried to fake his own death, was sentenced to die by the Kushiro District Court, Japan, for murdering a couple that had taken out a policy with his firm
- FEBRUARY 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi welcomed...
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi welcomed the decision by a Tokyo court to sentence former doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara to death for a series of crimes including the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 12 peop
- FEBRUARY 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The head of the defense team for AUM Shinrikyo founder...
The head of the defense team for AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara criticized the verdict against the cult leader, saying the reasons for his being given the death penalty were unpersuasive
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The widow of a subway station employee killed in Tokyo's...
The widow of a subway station employee killed in Tokyo's 1995 subway nerve-gas attack said she wished Shoko Asahara, guru of the Aum doomsday cult, could be hanged many times over
- FEBRUARY 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo District Court rejected a request for refugee...
The Tokyo District Court rejected a request for refugee status from a gay Iranian man who claimed that his homosexuality would be grounds for the death penalty if he was sent back to his homeland
- FEBRUARY 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Hiroshima High Court, Japan, upheld a lower court...
The Hiroshima High Court, Japan, upheld a lower court ruling sentencing to death Ryoji Ui for murdering Tamami Okatake, a female friend, and abandoning her body in Okayama Prefecture on August 9, 2001 while he was on parole
- FEBRUARY 19, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
China rejected Japan's call to reduce the penalty for...
China rejected Japan's call to reduce the penalty for a Japanese national sentenced to death for drug smuggling
- FEBRUARY 14, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
It was learned that a Japanese man in his 60s was sentenced...
It was learned that a Japanese man in his 60s was sentenced to death at a district court in Shenyang, north-eastern China, earlier in the month, on charges of trying to smuggle drugs to Japan
- FEBRUARY 6, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagoya High Court, Japan, sentenced to death Keiki...
The Nagoya High Court, Japan, sentenced to death Keiki Muto, a man convicted in a 2002 murder-and-robbery case, raising the life imprisonment penalty imposed by a lower court
- JANUARY 30, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo District Court in Japan sentenced Masami...
The Tokyo District Court in Japan sentenced Masami Tsuchiya, a former senior member of the Aum Shinri Kyo doomsday cult, to death for his role in making the poison used in a 1995 gas attack on Tokyo's subway that killed 12 people
- JANUARY 23, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced Xue Song, a 30 year old Chinese national, to death for murdering a Chinese woman and her husband after the woman had rejected his advances