(dpa) - Four inmates were executed Thursday in Japan, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said, bringing the number of death penalties carried out there since December to 10.
The hangings occurred amid protests of the death penalty. Japan is one of the few industrialized countries that still carry out executions, and human rights organizations have criticized the practice and the secrecy surrounding it in Japan for years.
Relatives only learn of the executions after they are carried out.