Japan hangs three death row inmates (Roundup)

Apr 27, 2007, 5:51 GMT

Tokyo - Three death row inmates were executed by hanging Friday in Japan, announced the Justice Ministry without disclosing their names.

This was the second set of hangings under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the last one conducted on December 25, when four death row inmates were hanged.

   Kyodo News Agency, citing sources, said executed Friday morning were Yoshikatsu Oda, Masahiro Tanaka and Kosaku Nada.

   The names of the prisoners are learned from family and lawyers as the Justice Ministry only releases to the public the number of those executed.

Oda, who was sentenced in March 2000 for robbing and murdering two people for insurance money in 1990 was hanged at the Fukuoka Detention House in southern Japan.

Tanaka, who was sentenced to death in 2000 and executed at the Tokyo Detention House, robbed and killed four people between 1984 and 1991.

At Osaka Detention Center in western Japan, Kosaku Nada was hanged for robbing and murdering two people in 1983 in Hyogo prefecture, west of Tokyo. His sentence was handed down in 1992.

   Friday[0x2019]s executions were unusual as they were conducted while Japan's parliament is in session. In the past Japan has carried out executions while the Diet is in recess to avoid criticism from lawmakers.

    Japan's implementation of capital punishment, the secrecy surrounding it and its prison conditions have been denounced by Amnesty International and other human-rights groups for years.     Some 101 inmates await execution in Japan.