World 21/08/2026 10:44 AM

Japan Executes Death Row Inmate, 1st Since Takaichi Took Office

BERNAMA Malaysian National News Agency
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Japan Executes Death Row Inmate, 1st Since Takaichi Took Office

TOKYO, Aug 21 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japan on Friday hanged a man convicted of killing five people in an arson attack on a pachinko parlour in the western Japanese city of Osaka in 2009, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said, making it the first execution under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Kyodo News reported that Sunao Takami, 58, was the first person to be executed in Japan since June 2025.

Takami poured petrol on the floor of the pachinko parlour on July 5, 2009, in an attack that also injured 10 people. His death sentence was finalised in 2016.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO