Man Arrested after Injuring 10 with Knife on Tokyo Train

Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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Man Arrested after Injuring 10 with Knife on Tokyo Train

Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japanese police said Saturday they arrested a man who stabbed 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo hours earlier, in what public broadcaster NHK reported to be a random burst of violence unrelated to the ongoing Olympic Games.

The 36-year-old man told police he wanted to kill women who appeared happy, and chose his targets at random, NHK said. The initial victim, a woman in her 20s, was in serious condition, according to NHK and other Japanese media. Police identified the attacker as Yusuke Tsushima.

The Tokyo Fire Department said nine of the 10 injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals, while the 10th was able to walk away. All of the injured were conscious, fire department officials said.

The Japanese capital is currently hosting the Olympics, which end Sunday. The site of the stabbing spree was about 15 kilometers away from the main National Stadium.

NHK said the suspect left his knife behind as he fled, and later walked into a convenience store and identified himself as the suspect on the news, and said he was tired of running away. The store manager called police after seeing bloodstains on the man’s shirt.

TBS television said he told police he developed the intent to kill women who “looked happy,” and stabbed a woman who happened to be seated near him in the carriage. He also told police that he chose to stage the attack inside a train because it offered the chance to kill a large number of people.

The suspect was also carrying cooking oil and a lighter, with which he allegedly intended to set a fire inside the carriage, NHK reported, quoting police.

A witness at a nearby station where the train stopped said passengers were rushing out of the carriages, shouting that there was a stabbing and asking for first aid. Another witness told NHK that he saw passengers smeared with blood come out of the train, as an announcer asked for doctors and for passengers carrying towels.

Dozens of paramedics and police arrived at the station, one of the witnesses told The Associated Press.

The stabbing occurred near Seijogakuen station, according to railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway Co.



Iran Hangs Three More Accused of Spying for Israel

The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
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Iran Hangs Three More Accused of Spying for Israel

The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP

Iran on Wednesday hanged three men convicted of spying for Israel after what activists decried as an unfair trial, bringing to six the number of people executed on such charges since the start of the war between the Islamic republic and Israel.

The hangings have also amplified fears for the life of Swedish-Iranian dual national Ahmadreza Djalali who has been on death row for seven-and-a-half years after being convicted of spying for Israel which his family vehemently denies.

The executions also bring to nine the number of people executed by Iran on espionage charges since the start of 2025, with activists accusing Tehran of using capital punishment as a means to instil fear in society.

Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul and Azad Shojai were executed earlier Wednesday in the northwestern city of Urmia, the judiciary said, the day after a truce between the Islamic republic and Israel came into effect, AFP reported.

They had "attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations," it added.

Iran had executed three other men accused of spying for Israel since the start of the conflict on June 13, in separate hangings on June 16, June 22 and June 23.

"The Islamic Republic sentenced Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, and Azad Shojai to death without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture, accusing them of espionage," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), told AFP.

He said Ali and Shojai were two border porters -- known locally as kolbar -- who carry goods over the border.

"They were arrested on charges of smuggling alcoholic beverages but were forced to confess to espionage for Israel," he said. Ali and Shojai were members of Iran's Kurdish minority while Rasoul, while also Kurdish, was an Iraqi national.

- 'Imminent risk' -

He warned that in the coming weeks the lives of "hundreds" more prisoners sentenced to death were at risk. "After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival."

Djalali was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death in October 2017 on charges of spying following what Amnesty International has termed "a grossly unfair trial" based on "'forced confessions' made under torture and other ill-treatment."

Long held in Tehran's Evin prison, which was hit by an Israeli strike on Monday before the truce, he has now been transferred to an unknown location, raising fears that his execution could be imminent, his family and government said.

"He called me and said, 'They're going to transfer me.' I asked where, and he said, 'I don't know,'" his wife Vida Mehrannia told AFP.

"Is it because they want to carry out the sentence? Or for some other reason? I don't know," she said, adding that she was "very worried" following the latest executions.

The Swedish foreign ministry said it had received information that he has been moved to an "unknown location" and warned there would be "serious consequences" for Sweden's relationship with Iran were he to be executed.

Amnesty International said Tuesday it was "gravely concerned" that he "is at imminent risk of execution".

- 'Grossly unfair trials' -

Rights groups say defendants in espionage cases are often convicted under vaguely-worded charges which are capital crimes under Iran's sharia law including "enmity against god" and "corruption on earth".

Analysts say that Israel's intelligence service Mossad has deeply penetrated Iran, as shown by its ability to locate and kill key members of the Iranian security forces in the conflict. But rights groups say that those executed are used as scapegoats to make up for Iran's failure to catch the actual spies.

Iran's judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had ordered swift trials against people suspected of collaborating with Israel with rights groups saying dozens of people have been arrested since the conflict started.

"A rush to execute people after torture-tainted 'confessions' and grossly unfair trials would be a horrifying abuse of power and a blatant assault on the right to life," said Hussein Baoumi, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

According to IHR, Iran has executed 594 people on all charges this year alone.