Daizo Nozawa

"There is the issue of family (privacy and other matters)," Nozawa said in explaining the ministry's refusal to disclose the identities of those who are executed.

Referring to the Sept. 14 executions, Nozawa said: "I believe that it was appropriately done. It is important to strictly follow the rules."

Sources said the two hanged were Mamoru Takuma, who killed eight schoolchildren in Osaka in 2001, and Sueo Shimazaki, a gangster convicted of killing three people in 1988.

As is the usual practice, the ministry disclosed the hangings but not the identity of the convicts. Executions are not announced until the day they take place, a practice that human rights groups have said is inhumane.

There are some 60 people on death row.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 25, 2004
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