JAPAN: LAWYERS' GROUP URGES NEW JUSTICE MINISTER TO SUSPEND EXECUTIONS

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations submitted a written request for Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who assumed the portfolio last month, to suspend the execution of death row inmates.
The move came after the U.N. Human Rights Committee urged Japan in July to "give due consideration to the abolition of the death penalty."
In the request, the lawyers' group urged Kamikawa, who is authorized to order the hangings, to set up an expert panel at the Justice Ministry to examine the current capital punishment system.
The JFBA called for looking into whether information on the death penalty has been fully disclosed, whether execution by hanging is cruel and whether capital punishment serves as a deterrent against heinous crimes.
The proposed panel "should be required to come out with its own conclusion on how the capital punishment system should be in Japan, and executions should be suspended until the panel completes thorough discussions," the federation said.
The lawyers' group adopted a declaration at its annual human rights meeting in 2011 to promote public debate on the abolition of the death penalty. The JFBA takes the position that a society without capital punishment is desirable.