By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – Prisoners on death row in Japan endure cruel conditions as they await capital punishment. Human rights group, Amnesty International, warns that the terms of the convictions are unjust.  

Last year, 15 prisoners in Japan were executed, and approximately 102 inmates are on death row presently. A number of them are elderly prisoners who have spent years or even decades in isolation. One inmate, Hakamada Iwao has been on death row for more than 40 years. From January 2006 to January 2009, 32 men were executed, and among them, 17 were over the age of 60, with five being in their seventies placing them as the oldest prisoners in the world who were executed. 

In a report compiled by Amnesty International, inmates on death row are held in isolation and not permitted to speak to other inmates. Aside from exercise sessions sanctioned two or three times a week, death row prisoners are prohibited from moving within their own cells and must remain seated. Amnesty International’s United Kingdom director, Kate Allen, referred to the death-row system as a “regime of silence, isolation and sheer non-existence.”

The human rights group fears that conditions of isolation faced by Japanese death row prisoners are making them mentally ill. In response, Allen called on the government to immediately halt executions: “rather than persist with a shameful capital punishment system, the new Japanese government should immediately impose a moratorium on all further executions.” The human rights group director also called the Japanese practice of informing prisoners that they would be killed with only a few hours notice was “utterly cruel.”

Researchers who attempted to report on the situation and policies of the Japanese justice system were discouraged in trying to compile facts due to the secrecy surrounding the country’s justice system. However, examiners were able to determine that Japan’s crime rate is low in comparison to other countries of a similar socio-economic level of development and the number of murders is also low. Despite the statistic that criminal trials have a 99% conviction rate, the actual level of imprisonment is relatively low, and the number of prisoners convicted and sentenced to death is a small fraction of all those convicted of capital offences – a little over 1% according to Amnesty International. Yet, those who are among those convicted of capital offences, the conditions preceding their final punishment is daunting and cruel leading to mental illness.

Japan’s code of criminal procedure states that if a person condemned to death is in a state of insanity, the execution shall be stayed by the justice minister. The fear by human rights groups like Amnesty International is that there is a rise of insanity among inmates caused by extreme conditions and the sheer length of their detention and police interrogation reform is needed to investigate these claims.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Japan death row ‘breeds insanity’ – 10 September 2009

Huffington Post – Amnesty International: Japan Must Stop Executing Mentally Ill Prisoners –11 September 2009

Guardian – Prisoners driven insane on Japan’s death row, says Amnesty – 10 September 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – Amnesty International published findings that Japan’s practice of informing inmates of their execution only a few hours before they take place have caused death row prisoners to become mentally ill.  The Japanese government is now under pressure to abolish their capital punishment system.

Kate Allen of Amnesty said, “The mental anguish of not knowing whether each day is to be your last day on Earth is terrible…[b]ut Japan’s justice system…sees fit to bury its death row prisoners in the most punitive regime of silence, isolation and a sheer non-existence imaginable.”  She urged the Japanese government to “[r]ather than persist[ing] with a shameful capital punishment system, [they] should immediately impose a moratorium on all further executions” because being informed only a few hours before execution is “utterly cruel.”

Japanese prisoners.  Courtesy of Getty Images.

Japanese death row prisoners are held in isolation, and they are not allowed to speak to other inmates.  In addition, prisoners on death row are not allowed to move around except for the weekly exercise sessions and must remain seated in their cells.  Visitations from family and attorneys can end in as little as five minutes.  Consequently, many inmates become delusional and suffer from mental illnesses.

Amnesty’s report highlighted the case of Iwao Hakamada, former professional boxer, who has been on death row for 41 years.  He is considered to have been the longest condemned death row prisoner in the world.  A psychiatrist who met Hakamada diagnosed him with “institutional psychosis.”

32 men were executed between January 2006 and January 2009 in Japan.  17 of the 32 executed inmates were older than 60.  Five were in their 70’s, which made them the oldest executed prisoners in the world.  Japan currently has 102 prisoners on death row.

International human rights standards forbid imposing capital punishment on the mentally ill.  The Japanese criminal procedure code also states that executions should be halted if a person receives the death sentence and is mentally insane. 

However, the death penalty has had wide support in Japan, where conviction rate for criminals is 99%. 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Japan death row ‘breeds insanity’ – 10 September 2009

Guardian – Prisoners driven insane on Japan’s death row, says Amnesty – 10 September 2009

Huffington Post – Amnesty International: Japan Must Stop Executing Mentally Ill Prisoners –11 September 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Five people were killed and 14 were injured in the latest unrest in China’s western city of Urumqi.  25 people are reportedly being held over the incident where demonstrators clashed with the police when the Han Chinese took the streets of Urumqi demanding better police protection from ethnic Uyghurs.

Chinese troops patrolling streets of Urumqi (Source: AFP)

Uyghurs, who are being blamed for the recent attacks, are Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China who consider Xinjiang their homeland.  Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese have resulted in violent riots since July.

A joint statement released by Urumqi’s court, prosecutor’s office and the police department noted that the syringe attackers who triggered the latest riots will face harsh punishment.  The Chinese officials said attackers who stabbed people with needles containing harmful substances may be jailed for three or more years.  The authorities also added that the attacker(s), if convicted, may receive the death penalty since China’s penal code allows for death penalty for crimes that involve dangerous substances used to harm others.

China’s Xinhua News Agency stated that more than 500 victims of hypodermic needle attacks are being treated in Urumqi hospitals, and the victims include various ethnic groups, including the Han, Uygurand and Kazakstan.

The syringe attacks began in early August, and one resident, wishing to remain anonymous said, “People are angry that the government is not doing much against the Uyghurs’ needle stabbing.”

Another resident said that the government had sent out text messages to citizens warning them of syringes containing unknown diseases.  This is a matter of grave concern since the Xinjiang region has the highest HIV infection rate in China.  In addition, Johns Hopkins University reported that Xinjiang serves as a convenient drug-trafficking route because the region is located between opium growing regions of Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.

Exiled Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer is asking the “Chinese officials to guarantee the security of all people living in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), including Uyghurs and Han Chinese.”  People of Urumqi are stocking up on groceries in fear of escalated violence.  Furthermore, there is no traffic around the city and schools have been closed.

For more information, please see:

BBC – China warning to syringe stabbers – 6 September 2009

CNN – Five killed as police face syringe protesters in Chinese city – 4 September 2009

Xinhua – Urumqi syringe attackers may face death penalty – 6 September 2009

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

DHAKA, Bangladesh- At least 2 people have been killed and over 100 injured in clashes between textile workers and police in Bangladesh, police have said.  The authorities delayed the report almost 12 hours after the media first reported the deaths.

The violence erupted as workers protested over unpaid salaries in the outskirts of Dhaka on Saturday.  “Law-enforcers had to fire rubber bullets from shot guns to disperse the workers who hurled stones and bricks at our officers,” said police inspector Shafiqul Alam.  Workers arriving to work at Nippon Garments factory found a notice stating the factory was closing for a month, citing losses and depressed orders.  

The workers then took to the streets to protest, with as many as 15,000 people involved in the protests, police said.  Maleka Begum, a police official, said in addition to at least 100 workers, a number of police officers were injured in the chaos. 

Protesters were demanding three months of back pay, Begum said, “The angry workers became unruly and violent this morning. They threw up barricades on the roads and suddenly attacked police.”  The workers were told they would be paid on Saturday, but when they arrived found the notice announcing the “closure due to economic depression” from Oct 31 to Nov. 29

“We were owed many arrears. As the workers wanted break the lock to enter the factory, police obstructed us,” said Majeda Begum, a factory worker.

Garment factories in the country of Bangladesh have been hit hard by the global economic crisis.  Unions said factories have cut wages to compete for orders with other apparel-producers, such as Vietnam, China and India.  Over forty percent of Bangladesh’s industrials workforce is employed in the garment sector, and this whole has been affected by the economic downturn.

Saturday’s clashes were the most severe since the global downturn began to affect Bangladeshi apparel factories, which accounted for 80 percent of the country’s $15.56 billion dollars worth of exports in the last year.  In June, 50,000 also workers protested wage cuts and unpaid salaries clashed with police and leaving many injured.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera. Net- Bangladesh Workers Riot over Pay– 31 October 2009

Associated Foreign Press- ‘Two Killed, 100 Hurt’ in Bangladeshi Workers Riot– 31 October 2009

BDNews24.Com- Tongi Violence Leave 2 Dead, 100 Injured – 1 November 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

UNITED NATIONS – A graphic video footage of a naked, blindfolded Tamil civilian sitting on dirt ground who is kicked and then shot in the back of his head by a Sri Lankan soldier aired on British television last week and has outraged the international community. 

The Tamils have been fighting for independence from Sri Lanka but were defeated this May.  The decades-long conflict killed at least 70,000 people, and the Sri Lankan government has been accused of extrajudicial killings in violation of international law in the past.  However, the government had prevented the international media from covering the conflict zone, but this video clip could be the most graphic evidence of Sri Lanka’s war crime allegations.

The High Commission of Sri Lanka claims the video is a fabrication and released a statement saying that they “categorically deny that the Sri Lankan armed forces engaged in atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamil community.”  Nonetheless, the UN wants an independent investigation to verify the authenticity of the video.

UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston said, “These images are horrendous and, if authentic, would indicate a serious violation of international law.”  He added, “The government clearly has nothing to lose and everything to gain by inviting an independent international investigation…and say look, these are fabrications….”

Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, who holds the presidency of the UN Security Council during September, also expressed her concerns saying, “These reports are very disturbing….”  Rice said the allegation against Sri Lanka is not currently on the Security Council’s agenda, but this could change.

Sri Lanka has repeatedly denied that its military has committed war crimes or breached international human rights laws during the fighting.  Nevertheless, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN takes all human rights violation reports seriously and the recent execution video will not be an exception.
For more information, please see:

CNN – U.N. envoy seeks probe into ‘horrendous’ Sri Lanka video – 2 September 2009

Reuters – U.S. voices “grave concern” about Sri Lanka video – 2 September 2009

Telegraph – Sri Lanka accused of war crimes after ‘Tamil execution’ videos emerge – 25 August 2009