Three convicted killers, Kiyotaka Katsuta, 52, who...

Three convicted killers, Kiyotaka Katsuta, 52, who changed his family name to Fujiwara, Takashi Miyawaki, 57, and Kunikatsu Oishi, 55 were hanged.Miyawaki and serial killer Fujiwara were both hanged at a prison in the central Japanese city of Nagoya, while Oishi was put to death in Fukuoka, southern Japan. "We have today executed three persons whose death sentences had been confirmed," the Justice Ministry said in a one-line statement which, as is customary, omitted the convicts' names and details of where they were hanged At least another 52 people are on death row in Japan, said Mr Yoshihiro Yasuda, an activist from the Capital Punishment Abolition Forum Two members of the opposition Social Democratic Party, Mr Nobuto Hosaka and Mr Reiko Oshima, who are opposed to capital punishment, had earlier appealed for clemency to the Justice Ministry.