The Japan Federation of Bar Associations urged the...

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations urged the Justice Ministry on not to execute death row inmates after the current Diet session ended on May 16.
"The government should suspend executions on 57 death row inmates until the problematic system of Japan's capital punishment is improved and public debate over it reaches a certain consensus," the JFBA noted in a statement submitted to Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa.
It marked the first time that the largest lawyers' group in Japan had requested that executions be suspended beforehand. Anti-death penalty activists were concerned that the government could hang several inmates between June 16 and 26, when the campaign season for the House of Councilors election in July would be officially announced.
The government usually executes inmates when the parliament is adjourned, shortly before official notification of a national election or at the end of the year.
The JFBA named five death row inmates as the most likely to be executed, judging from when they were sentenced to death. Citing four former inmates who were taken off death row after being acquitted during retrials in the 1980s, the JFBA pointed out that the judicial system, under which innocent prisoners could be executed, had not improved.
It also argued that Japan's use of the death penalty conflicted with international human rights standards since executions were conducted secretly and death row inmates were kept in complete isolation, with their contact with the outside world severely restricted.
"Our federation has issued statements to seek suspension of executions whenever the government carries out capital punishment, but it is quite regrettable that it has repeatedly executed inmates," the statement said.