By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China– Three more Japanese nationals were executed in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning on Friday for drug trafficking after another Japanese individual was executed for the same offense on Tuesday.
Under Chinese law, trafficking, making or distributing 50 or more grams of methamphetamine is punishable by death. Japan also has capital punishment but not for drug trafficking.
Furthermore, Tuesday’s execution of Mitsunobu Akano was the first execution of a Japanese citizen since China and Japan established diplomatic relations back in 1972.
The other three individuals, Teruo Takeda, Hironori Uka and Katsuo Mori, were caught either distributing or possessing drugs, and all three were convicted. Takeda was specifically charged with selling five kilograms of methamphetamine in 2004.
The Japanese nationals were reported to have been granted full legal rights during their detention and trial. Their rights to appeal have also been said to have been upheld.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama called the executions “regrettable.” In addition, he asked Japanese citizens to remain calm after a peaceful demonstration took place outside the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo and to recognize that the two countries have different laws.
Both Japan and China have said that they hope the two countries’ relations will not be affected.
However, Japan’s Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said she was “concerned about relations between Japan and China when I think of the uncomfortable feeling or reaction felt by [the] majority of the Japanese people.”
The Japanese Prime Minister did announce that his government will “work hard to ensure that this does not lead to cracks in the Japan-China relationship.”
Just last week, China was under fire from Amnesty International because the human rights organization alleged that the Chinese authorities are claiming fewer number of executions than those actually carried out.
Amnesty’s Claudio Cordone said, “If [fewer executions are] true, why won’t [China] tell the world how many people the state put to death?”
Under a law introduced in 2007, China’s Supreme People’s Court must approve all death sentences in order to avoid injustice. However, despite the Chinese government’s refusal to release overall figures, China is still thought to execute the most number of people than any other country in the world.
For more information, please see:
BBC – China executes three more Japanese drug smugglers – 9 April 2010
RTT News – China Executes 3 More Japanese Drug Smugglers – 9 April 2010
Strait Times – China executes 3 Japanese – 9 April 2010
