Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Japan
TOKYO: Japan’s biggest lawyers’ group has called for the abolition of the death penalty.
Human rights groups have long denounced Japan’s capital punishment, under which prisoners are told without warning they will be hanged within hours, but there has been little momentum for change.
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations issued a declaration calling for the abolishment of the death penalty by 2020, citing the possibility of wrongful convictions.