Japan gets Amnesty censure

Tokyo - Amnesty International attacked Japan yesterday for widespread cruelty to prisoners, including beatings, shackling and…

Tokyo - Amnesty International attacked Japan yesterday for widespread cruelty to prisoners, including beatings, shackling and lengthy isolation for the smallest breaches of arcane and secret rules.

"Prisoners have been shackled in leather and metal handcuffs, violently attacked by guards and forced to eat like dogs as a punishment for minor infractions of secret prison rules," said Mr Mark Allison of Amnesty.

"These punishments constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," he told a news conference to launch Amnesty's report "Abusive Punishments in Japanese Prisons."