Semi.sotto.laneve

STOP EXECUTIONS IN JAPAN!

A Letter to Justice Minister 30th November 2011

Japan has capital punishment by hanging. A large majority of Japanese are in favour of it and often there are executions around this time of the year. However, there have been no executions since 28 July 2010. The current Justice Minister is under a lot of pressure to sign death warrants now.

3 dicembre 2011

THIS CAMPAIGN CLOSED ON XMAS DAY WHEN

THE 170 SIGNATURES FROM INDIVIDUALS AND 6 ASSOCIATIONS

WERE SENT TO THE MINISTER.

WE THANK ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THE CAMPAIGN AND ADHERED TO IT,

HOPING THE DE FACTO MORATORIUM WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 2012.

WE WILL INFORM YOU AT A LATER DATE ABOUT THE NEW CAMPAIGN FOR 2012.

BEST WISHES TO ONE AND ALL

Abolitionists hope he will not do so, thereby setting an important precedent and helping to reinforce the need for a debate on the subject.

If you agree with the contents of the letter to the Minister, go to the very bottom of the page in the link below where you see the word "Aderisci" (adhere).

Under that word press "Come persona" if you adhere as an individual, or "Come associazione" if you are signing for an association.

To sign:

http://www.peacelink.it/campagne/index.php?id=92&id_topic=73

THE LETTER

To the Right Honourable Minister of Justice Hideo Hiraoka,

We citizens of Italy and Europe very much appreciate your courageous stand regarding the system surrounding capital punishment in Japan, despite the strong political and social opposition you are subject to. We also appreciate your interest in starting a serious, national debate so that Japanese society may find a more human and efficient alternative solution.

We wish to give you our sincere support for your political battle. We request you to carry on and resist the great, unjust pressure put on you by some of your colleagues in government and Parliament and also by a part of public opinion who press for political control over the justice system.

We also pray that the year 2011 may pass without any executions having taken place, and we beg you to continue with the hard work you have undertaken.

The constant increase in the number of sentences handing down capital punishment in such a safe country as Japan where the number of cases of homicide continues to fall year by year seems rather strange to our minds. Furthermore, we are deeply sorry that in Japan, such a developed nation full of qualities we admire greatly, capital punishment is accepted as something normal and is even instumentalised politically to give people's dissatisfaction an outlet.

Nowhere can society remain immune to changes forever. Even if at the beginning the position is that of a minority, courageous far-seeing people can promote and bring about a change in their fellow citizens' way of thinking, and the awareness of public opinion can improve the system making society more liveable for an ever-increasing number of people. Human history is full of examples.

On 30th November 1786 a small state in the Italian peninsula, the Granduchy of Tuscany, abolished the death penalty and torture from its statute books -- the first state in the world to do so. After more than two hundred years it is still talked about in schools and remembered as a page in history Italians are proud of, the same sort of pride they have in their beautiful landscapes and works of art.

From Italy we hope with all our heart that it will be you, Minister Hiraoka, who will write the first line of a new page in the history of Japan; that it will turn its back on capital punishment. We are sure that Japan's future generations will remember this with gratitude and will be proud of it.

We beg you not to forget that there are many citizens also outside Japan who are following your courageous battle carefully and are on your side.

Sincere best wishes for your work, and don't give in!

30 November 2011