Government documents on the death penalty partly blackened to hide confidential information.

Osaka-based lawyer Tomoyoshi Emura argued at the Tokyo District Court he wants the Justice Ministry to rescind its January 2004 decision to reject his request, based on the information disclosure law, to disclose the layout of the execution facility.

While the ministry said in the decision that disclosure "may lead to escapes and damage public security and order," Emura insisted the refusal should be based on concrete and reasonable predictions over the concerns.

"It is necessary for the government to disclose information over the capital punishment system and its management so the public can discuss whether to abolish the death penalty," he told the court. "The execution chamber layout will provide the public with a clue about how executions are carried out." The government sought the suit's dismissal.

The suit was followed by other two lawsuits in which other lawyers are seeking disclosure of government documents, such as execution orders and execution reports, which contain executed death row inmate's last wills and how their bodies are dealt with afterward. Such information was not made public, despite the lawyers' disclosure request.

The plaintiffs are members of a Japan Federation of Bar Associations' committee, which works for compiling bills to suspend executions, and they expect the three suits to be examined together eventually.

The largest lawyers' group in Japan has urged the government to suspend executions until it drastically improves problems surrounding the death penalty, including the secret practices.

The government has received harsh criticism for announcing only the number of executed inmates, not their identities, after the hangings.

Death row inmates are informed of their executions on the morning of the day, while their families and lawyers are notified after the fact.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 8, 2005
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