JAPAN: A man convicted of murdering eight children in a frenzied knife attack at a primary school three years ago was hanged in Osaka yesterday in Japan's first execution for a year writes Justin McCurry in Tokyo.
Mamoru Takuma barged into several classrooms at Ikeda primary school in the city's suburbs in June 2001, slashing children as they sat at their desks. Thirteen other children and two teachers were injured in the attack, which exposed the lax security at many Japanese schools.
The sentence on Takuma (40) was carried out with unusual speed, less than a year after his conviction was finalised; a result, some have suggested, of the widespread public horror at his crimes.
But Amnesty International in Japan criticised the execution, saying it had been carried out in secrecy and before the full details of the crimes had been learned.
Mr Kaoru Kurata, the mayor of Ikeda, which lies about 250 miles west of Tokyo, welcomed the execution.
"I hope it is of at least a little comfort that the perpetrator has been punished under the law and no longer exists on this Earth," he said.
The father of one of the dead children said in a television interview: "Takuma has been executed, but that will not bring back my child."
As usual, the execution was carried out when parliament was not in session, to avoid awkward questions from politicians opposed to capital punishment.
As of last month, there were 63 prisoners on death row. Unlike Takuma, most will have to wait years before they are executed.