Those awaiting execution in Japan's prisons live in terror that each day could be their last – and that they'll have only minutes to prepare themselves for the gallows. David McNeill meets an innocent survivor of the system
When his body isn't groaning under the weight of its 83 years, and the sun is shining over his native Kyushu in southern Japan, Sakae Menda sometimes forgets the ordeal he suffered and knows he is lucky to be alive. But most days, there is no forgetting that the Japanese state stole 34 years of his life as retribution for a crime that he didn't commit, nor that he thought every one of those 12,410 days would be his last. "Waiting to die is a kind of torture," he says, "worse than death itself."
2 comments:
Good post John, reminds us that not all good things come out of Japan.
The suddenness with which execution is carried out in that country is just pure savageness unbecoming of any civilized country in the 21st century.
As for the rest of their legal system it does not stand up to examination by anyone from a democracy.
I lived in Japan for some years and it's clear that their relatively low level of violent crime has left them staggeringly ill equipped to deal with it when it happens. From a draconian death row to police brutality corruption and above all incompetence (anyone remember the english teacher murdered a couple of years ago? - they had his house surrounded and he ran away with no shoes on... they still haven't caught him!)
It's thankful that most Japanese, or visitors to Japan, will never have to experience this - but then again, maybe that's why it is allowed to continue!
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