The Japanese Justice Ministry executed three death-row inmates Tuesday morning, dpa reported. Tsutomu Miyazaki, 45, was hanged for killing four young girls in 1988 and 1989 in Tokyo and neighbouring Saitama province, while Shinji Mutsuda, 37, was convicted of murder robbery. They were executed in Tokyo.
Yoshio Yamasaki, 73, who was convicted of murdering two women in 1985 and 1990 for insurance money, was executed in Osaka Detention House.
The number of death sentences carried out under Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama rose to 13 since he assumed the post last August.
Japan refused to abolish the death penalty at a UN Human Rights Council meeting last week in Geneva or grant a moratorium on executions.
Various nations made recommendations to Japan, after the council reviewed the nation's human-rights practices for the first time. One such recommendation expressed concern for the welfare of detainees in Japanese police custody.
Japanese death-row inmates are not informed of the date of their execution until the morning, when guards come to escort them to the gallows.
Currently, 103 inmates are sitting on death row in Japan.