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AIUTO! Azione Urgente per Pena di Morte in Giappone

Cari amici,
Scusatemi per l'irruzione nelle vostre vacanze (?) quiete.
Ma avrei bisogno del vostro aiuto, molto urgente, per evitare
un'esecuzione capitale nei prossimi giorni,
di un uomo di 53 anni, arrestato oltre 25 anni fa
per un presunto attentato al palazzo del governo regionale.

Se non potete mettervi a scrivere una lettera articolata
in inglese, basterebbero anche un paio di righe del tipo:

DEAR MINISTER,
PLEASE STOP THE EXECUTION!
SAVE OMORI'S LIFE!
NO MORE DEATH PUNISHMENT IN JAPAN!

da indirizzare a

Ms MORIYAMA Mayumi
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-8977, Japan
Fax:      011 81 3 3592 7008/5511 7200
email:    <mailto:webmaster at moj.go.jp>webmaster at moj.go.jp
Salutation: Dear Minister

E una copia ai quotidiani:

Asahi Shimbun
5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo 104-8011, Japan
Fax: 011 81 3 3545 0285/3593 0438
email:    <mailto:kouhou at mx.asahi-np.co.jp>kouhou at mx.asahi-np.co.jp

Japanese national newspaper
Yomiuri Shimbun
1-7-1 Ohtemachi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0004, Japan
Email: <mailto:gaihou at tokyo.yomiuri.co.jp>gaihou at tokyo.yomiuri.co.jp /dy at yominet.ne.jp (newsroom 
email)
Fax: 011 81 3 3245 1277/3581 0434/+81 3 3279 6324/+81 3 3217
8247 (newsroom)

Grazie di cuore per la vostra solidarietà e della collaborazione.
yukari

SEGUONO LE INFORMAZIONI IN INGLESE

URGENT ACTION APPEAL

31 July 2002

EXTRA 59/02            Fear of Imminent Executions

JAPAN          Omori Katsuhisa (m), aged 53


Omori Katsuhisa, currently under sentence of death, may be
executed on or around 2 August. As there is a trend of more than one
execution taking place at the same time in Japan, there are fears that
other executions may also be carried out around this time. Executions
are arbitrary and carried out in secret, so there is no official
confirmation of the names of those scheduled for execution.

Omori Katsuhisa was arrested on 10 August 1976 on charges of
planting and detonating a bomb in the Hokkaido prefectural
government building in March 1976 in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

His death sentence was finalized when his appeal was rejected by
the Supreme Court in July 1994. It appears that Omori Katsuhisa's
lawyer was in the process of appealing against the judgement when
he found out that  Omori Katsuhisa's execution could be imminent.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Executions in Japan usually take place in summer and winter, and the
authorities often schedule these to coincide with parliamentary
recesses or parliamentary elections, or public holidays, to minimize
public and parliamentary criticism. The Japanese Parliament (the
Diet) is due to go into summer recess this week.

The application of the death penalty in Japan is arbitrary and cruel.
Execution is by hanging. The prisoner is informed that the execution
will take place just hours in advance, denying the prisoner the chance
to inform relatives or lawyers. The Japanese government has shown
previously that lodging an appeal will not stay an execution: in 1999,
one person who was executed had filed a habeas corpus petition to
the court, while another had petitioned for a retrial.

Usually the Minister of Justice signs the execution order on Monday
and the executions are carried out on the Thursday or Friday of the
same week. It is feared that if Omori Katsuhisa's execution order is
issued already, he could be executed on 2 August; otherwise his
order could be issued in the next week.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the
right to life and the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman punishment,
and calls on the government to cease all executions, to commute all
outstanding death sentences and to take steps towards abolishing
the death penalty.

At the First World Congress against the Death Penalty in Strasbourg
in June 2001, the Council of Europe passed a resolution calling on
the Japanese government to take steps towards abolition of the death
penalty by 2003 or risk losing its Observer Status (at the Council of
Europe). The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and the
Japanese Diet Members co-organized a seminar in Tokyo on 27 and
28 May. One of the guest speakers, a member of the European
Parliament, submitted a resolution on the death penalty in Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan which was adopted at the European
Parliament on 13 June.

Advocates of the death penalty in Japan claim that public support for
the death penalty is overwhelming, citing Japanese government
surveys. However, these surveys contain questions loaded in favour
of the death penalty. Importantly, there was no significant opposition
in Japan to the de facto moratorium on executions between 1989-
1993.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- expressing concern that Omori Katsuhisa and other unnamed death
row prisoners are under threat of imminent execution;
- urging the Japanese government to ensure that no executions are
carried out during the parliamentary recess in August;
- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions pending the
abolition of the death penalty in Japanese law;
- calling on the Japanese government to ratify the Second Optional
Protocol of the ICCPR, aimed at and leading to the abolition of the
death penalty, which is the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman
punishment.

APPEALS TO:

Mr KOIZUMI Junichiro
Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
2-3-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0014, Japan
Fax: 011 81 3 3581 3883
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Ms MORIYAMA Mayumi
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-8977, Japan
Fax:      011 81 3 3592 7008/5511 7200
email:    <mailto:webmaster at moj.go.jp>webmaster at moj.go.jp
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO:
Japanese national newspaper
Asahi Shimbun
5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo 104-8011, Japan
Fax: 011 81 3 3545 0285/3593 0438
email:    <mailto:kouhou at mx.asahi-np.co.jp>kouhou at mx.asahi-np.co.jp

English-language newspaper
Japan Times
4-5-4 Shibaura, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 108-0014, Japan
Fax:      011 81 3 3453 5456

Japanese national newspaper
Yomiuri Shimbun
1-7-1 Ohtemachi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0004, Japan
Email: <mailto:gaihou at tokyo.yomiuri.co.jp>gaihou at tokyo.yomiuri.co.jp /dy at yominet.ne.jp (newsroom 
email)
Fax: 011 81 3 3245 1277/3581 0434/+81 3 3279 6324/+81 3 3217
8247 (newsroom)

Ambassador Ryozo Kato
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 328 2187
<mailto:Email:eojjicc at erols.com>Email:eojjicc at erols.com

Please send appeals immediately.
Go to <http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html>http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html 
to read this month's newsletter.

Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: <mailto:uan at aiusa.org>uan at aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:     303 258 7881