Japan yesterday hanged a Chinese man convicted of the murder of a family of four, whose bodies were found handcuffed and weighted down with dumbbells in a bay, Japanese Minister of Justice Masako Mori said.
Mori said that she ordered the execution of Wei Wei (魏巍) “after careful consideration” over a robbery and multiple murders carried out with two other students in 2003.
“It is an extremely cruel and brutal case in which the happily living family members, including an eight-year-old and 11-year-old, were all murdered because of truly selfish reasons,” she said.
Photo: AFP
Wei, a 40-year-old former language student in Japan, had pleaded guilty to the four murder counts, but contended that he was not the central figure in the case.
The trio, reportedly allured by money, robbed the home of Japanese businessman Shinjiro Matsumoto, 41, in the southwestern city of Fukuoka in June 2003 and strangled him with a tie.
His 40-year-old wife, Chika, was drowned in a bathtub, and the children were strangled or smothered.
The victims’ bodies were found dumped in Hakata Bay in Fukuoka, handcuffed and weighted down.
The other two suspects fled to China, but were arrested there.
According to Jiji Press, one of the two was executed in 2005, the year a Chinese court gave him a death sentence and his associate a life sentence.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, the first execution of a foreigner since the ministry began announcing the names of those executed was in 2009.
A Chinese man was hanged for killing three Chinese that he lived with near Tokyo and for injuring three, the Asahi Shimbun said.
Japan last executed inmates in August, when two men were hanged after being convicted of murder.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS