Japan hangs three prisoners, 1st hangings since 2019

|HT|

Japan hanged three prisoners on Tuesday, its first executions in two years, with the government saying it was necessary to maintain capital punishment in the face of continued "atrocious crimes". Japan is one of the few developed countries to keep the death penalty and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.

More than 100 people are currently on death row, most of them for cases of mass murder. Executions are carried out by hanging, usually long after sentencing.

One of the three executed on Tuesday was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who used a hammer and knife to kill his 80-year-old aunt, two cousins and four others in 2004, a justice ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

The other two were 54-year-old Tomoaki Takanezawa, who killed two clerks at an arcade game parlour in 2003, and his accomplice Mitsunori Onogawa, 44.

The executions were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October.

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