JAPAN: Tokyo says China's execution of 3 more Japanese for drug smuggling is too severe and regrettable

Record ID: 465422

  • Title: JAPAN: Tokyo says China's execution of 3 more Japanese for drug smuggling is too severe and regrettable
  • Date: 10th April 2010
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (APRIL 9, 2010) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN PARK UNDER CHERRY BLOSSOMS PEOPLE WALKING ALONG THE STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) KATSUYUKI SATO, 18-YEAR-OLD UNIVERSITY STUDENT, SAYING: "I think they went over the top. They didn't have to go as far as the death penalty." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NATSU KOBAYASHI, 38-YEAR-OLD TRANSLATOR, SAYING: "A crime is a crime. But I don't think death penalty is appropriate in this day and age." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MIDORI SATO, 56- YEAR-OLD, SAYING: "I was really surprised that the sentence was decided so quickly." MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING IN PARK UNDER CHERRY BLOSSOMS
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA25963FWN77FYYOXR30LEG0CNY
  • Story Text: The news that China executed three Japanese nationals for drug smuggling and trafficking on Friday (April 9) following the execution of another Japanese citizen this week was greeted with regret and condemnation in Japan.
    On Tuesday, China said it had put to death Mitsunobu Akano in the northeastern province of Liaoning for drug smuggling, ignoring concern from Tokyo that the move could inflame public opinion.
    The three Japanese who were put to death in Liaoning on Friday included Teruo Takeda, 67, who was convicted of buying about 5 kg of methamphetamine in China in 2003 and instructing another Japanese to take the drugs out of China, Xinhua said. The two others were 48-year-old Hironori Ukai and 67-year-old Katsuo Mori, it said.
    Japanese media said they were the first executions in China of Japanese citizens since the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1972.
    In Tokyo the government cautiously expressed its regret at China's decision.
    "Although we are convinced that each country has its own legal system, from my point of view the execution of three more people is regrettable," Japanese government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano said, repeating what he said early this week after the execution of the first Japanese citizen.
    But so far there has been no public outcry in Japan, which along with the United States is one of only two Group of Eight countries that conduct executions.
    A government poll showed in February that 86 percent of Japanese approve of the death penalty.
    But people on the streets of Tokyo interviewed by Reuters said they were outraged.
    "I think they went over the top. They didn't have to go as far as the death penalty," said 18-year-old university student Katsuyuki Sato.
    "A crime is a crime. But I don't think death penalty is appropriate in this day and age," said 38-year-old translator Natsu Kobayashi.
    "I was really surprised that the sentence was decided so quickly," said 56-year-old Midori Sato, from Chiba prefecture.
    While relations have improved of late, the two countries regularly clash over Japan's wartime past in China and various territorial disputes.
    Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is likely to express concern about the executions in possible bilateral talks with President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of a summit on nuclear security in Washington next week, Japanese media said on Friday.
    In December, China executed a Briton, also for drug smuggling, prompting a British outcry over what it said was the lack of any mental health assessment.
    China has executed other foreign nationals for drug offences. It recently executed an Afghan citizen, and there are Nigerians and Filipinos on death row.
    Rights group Amnesty International believes China executes thousands of people every year. Beijing does not give a breakdown of the number of people it puts to death.
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