By A Correspondent| Japan this Thursday executed a 40-year-old Chinese man convicted of murdering a family of four, making him the first foreigner to be executed since the disclosure of details on sentences carried out began in 2007.

This was revealed by Japan’s Ministry of Justice which also indicated that the execution was the 39th since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in 2012.

The Chinese man, Wei Wei, had committed the murders in mid-2003 with two accomplices who were also Chinese nationals.

Wei’s accomplices reportedly fled to China where they were arrested. One of them was executed in China in 2005 and the other received a life sentence.

Japan and the United States of America are the only members of the Group of Seven nations to retain the death penalty.

-StateMedia