Japan death penalty, shows execution chambers - hopes of national debate

August 29, 2010 - Japan, one of the few industrialized countries with the death penalty, showed one of its execution chambers to media for the first time on Friday; Japan's Justice Minister hopes for national debate.

There are seven such death chambers across the country. Reporters were shown the death chamber at the Tokyo Detention Facility.

Execution in Japan is carried out by hanging. Pressing a button in another room releases the trap door marked with red tape in the photo.

Mainichi Daily News reported that Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, after witnessing the deaths of two condemned prisoners last month, said she wanted to provide the media access to the execution room to start a national debate on capital punishment in Japan.

Chiba has spoken previously against the death penalty.

There was no noose suspended from the ceiling the day that media were shown the chamber, but it did show a trapped door outlined in red.

The condemned fall through a trapped door and into a room below where their deaths are confirmed. Mainichi reported that media were not shown that room out of consideration for the inmates’ families and wardens.

They were, however, shown a room where inmates are told they are about to be executed and where they can meet with a chaplain to get religious last rites.

According to an accompanying article in Mainichi, Japan’s execution process has long been shrouded in secrecy.

According to Amnesty International 107 prisoners remain on death row in Japan.

The most recent execution was on July 28 when Ogata Hidenori, 33, and Shinozawa Kazuo, 59, were put to death. Prior to that, the last executions were in August 2009.

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Source:
CNN
Mainichi Daily News