JAPAN: U.N. raps Japan over death penalty

. OSAKA / The Yomiuri Shimbun / November 1, 2008 By Saki Ouchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent GENEVA--A U.N. human rights panel urged the government Thursday to consider ending capital punishment, regardless of public opinion. The recommendation is the first in 10 years to be issued to Japan by a panel that monitors nations to check if they are adhering to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and regularly examines the human rights situation in nations around the world. In the recommendation, the Human Rights Council expressed concerns about Japan's death penalty system, noting that the number of executions is increasing. It also said the time between notifying death row inmates of their execution and the actual execution is too short, and criticized the killing of elderly people and people of limited mental capacity. The U.N. panel recommended Tokyo take steps to abolish capital punishment and raise public awareness of why its abolition would be desirable. It also asked that a new system be established to review all finalized death sentences, saying an execution order should be suspended whenever a death row convict files for a fresh trial or amnesty. The panel stressed that death row inmates should only be detained in solitary confinement in exceptional circumstances. © The Yomiuri Shimbun.