Japan executes first three prisoners since 2010

Three death row inmates have been hanged in Japan in the country’s first executions since July 2010.



Reports say the unnamed prisoners had all been convicted of multiple murders.

Japan is one of the few advanced industrialised nations to retain the death penalty.



Although there is majority support for the death penalty, rights groups say Japan's death row is particularly harsh.



No executions were carried out in 2011.

Official figures in Japan as of 2011 put support for capital punishment at over 80 per cent.



However, rights groups like Amnesty International have called for it to be abolished, saying the condemned have few visits, little exercise and are forced to spend almost all of their time sitting down in their cells.