 Shortly after those of the raiders who had been captured had been tortured, and some executed, the "Nippon Times" denounced British treatment of German prisoners of war, claiming that American and British prisoners held by Japan were being treated in accordance with international law.Allied war purposes were presented as annihilation.Japanese civilians were told that the Americans would commit rape, torture, and murder and they therefore were to kill themselves rather than surrender; on Saipan and Okinawa, large majorities of the civilian population did commit suicide or kill each other before the American victory.