Tokyo: Japan today hanged three convicted murderers in the country's first executions this year, the justice ministry said. A justice ministry spokesman said the three were hanged separately across the country.

Japan is the only major developed country other than the United States that uses the death penalty. The executions were the first since December 7,when another three death row inmates were hanged.

The justice ministry identified the three executed men as Masahiko Matsubara, 63,Takashi Mochida, 65,and Keishi Nago, 37. Nago is relatively young to be executed in Japan, where many inmates wait years or decades on death row.

Nago, who is said to have become involved with a "yakuza" gang as a youth, was convicted of strangling to death his sister-in-law and niece in 2002 on O-bon, the Japanese family holiday to mourn the dead.

The death penalty enjoys overwhelming public support in Japan despite persistent criticism from the country s legal groups, international human rights groups and the European Union.

Japan had a de facto moratorium on executions for 15 months until 2006 as the then justice minister, Seiken Sugiura, said the death penalty went against his Buddhist beliefs.

Kunio Hatoyama, the current justice minister, has called for stepping up the pace of executions. But in a nod to critics, the justice ministry has since December released the names of people it has executed. Previously, it only announced that executions took place without identifying who was put to death.

Source : PTI