To the horror of Amnesty International, three multiple murderers were executed in Japan yesterday.
'The hangings were immediately condemned by Amnesty International and the head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Kenji Utsunomiya. "Executions should be immediately suspended so that capital punishment can be debated nationally," he said. (The Independent.)
National debate, eh? What an excellent argument! At the end of that debate there could be a referendum in every nation with or without the death penalty on a moral issue which should obviously not be left in the hands of politicians.Kenji Utsunomiya clearly admires democracy! I am sure that he could not possibly be advocating 'debate' only in those nations which do have a death penalty - that would hardly be evenhanded, would it?
(Just thought that for balance, I'd better mention that the latest government opinion polls in Japan put support for capital punishment at about 85 per cent!)
