In Japan, three death row inmates executed; first after 2019 and under PM Kishida's reign

Japan hanged three death row inmates on Tuesday, marking the country's first executions since 2019, Kyodonews reported. It is also the first time the death sentence was given under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration. According to the Kyodonews, the three were identified as Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who was convicted of murdering seven of his relatives in Hyogo Prefecture in 2004, and Tomoaki Takanezawa, 54, and Mitsunori Onogawa, 44, who were convicted of murdering two pachinko parlour employees in Gunma Prefecture in 2003.

The most recent execution in Japan occurred on December 26, 2019, according to Kyodo. In Japan, capital punishment is carried out by hanging, and convicts are only informed of their execution hours before it takes place. Human rights organizations have long criticized this practice because of the stress it places on death-row inmates, for whom any day could be their last.

Most of the politicians in Japan support death penalties

The executions on Tuesday were the first under the new PM Kishida. On December 26, 2019, Japan executed three death row convicts, and 15, in 2018, including 13 members of the doomsday cult responsible for a fatal sarin gas assault on the Tokyo subway in 1995. Politicians in Japan claim to strong levels of support for the death penalty, despite criticism that offenders generally spend years in solitary confinement and are only given a few hours' warning of their execution.

Amnesty International accused Japan of exposing death row inmates to cruel, barbaric, and humiliating punishment in a 2009 report, according to BBC. The nation has more than 100 prisoners awaiting execution. A verdict prohibiting a retrial for Hakamada was reversed by Japan's supreme court in December last year, potentially leading to an acquittal.

Inmates demand compensation of £22 million

Two death row inmates in Japan filed a lawsuit against the government last month, arguing that the government's practise of not alerting inmates of their execution until just hours before they are hanged was "inhumane." The inmates have demanded a halt to the practice as well as compensation of £22 million. Only the United States and Japan are industrialised democracies that still use the death penalty, despite the fact that human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have been calling for change for decades.

(With inputs from agencies)