Japan this morning hanged a Chinese man for a 2003 robbery-murder.
With two other Chinese nationals, Wei Wei robbed and murdered a clothier in Fukuoka Prefecture, along with his wife and two young daughters ages 11 and 8 — scoring ¥37,000 in the process. All four were strangled or drowned, and eventually discovered dumped in Hakata Bay, weighted down with dumbbells.
The two accomplices fled to China where they were arrested. One of them was executed there in 2005 and the other was given a life sentence.
Wei’s death sentence was finalized in 2011. Prior to the murder, the three had been involved in various robberies.
In a statement released on the same day, international human rights group Amnesty International’s Japanese arm lambasted the execution of Wei, noting that it went ahead while he was seeking a retrial.
“Appealing for a retrial is part of the processes stipulated in the criminal procedure law,” the group said.
“They should have begun a process for suspending the execution while he was demanding a retrial. Failing to do so runs counter to the international human rights law.”
Wei Wei is reportedly the first foreign national hanged in Japan since 2009
On this day..
- 1845: John Burnett, failson
- 2017: Fifteen Sinai Islamic militants
- 831: St. Euthymius of Sardis, iconophile
- 1864: James Utz, St. Louis spy
- 1502: Ramiro d'Orco, discarded by Cesare Borgia
- 1936: Harry Singer, in the holiday spirit
- 1942: Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, Darlan's assassin
- 1872: Du Wenxiu, Panthay rebellion leader
- 1870: Kumoi Tatsuo
- Feast Day of St. Stephen
- 1862: Asa Lewis, Confederate deserter
- 1862: 38 Sioux
- Themed Set: The Spectacle of Public Hanging in America