Japan - Iwao Hakamada, 87, longest serving death row inmate in world - retrial announced Mar 2023

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Iwao Hakamada: Japan retrial for world's longest-serving death row inmate

A Japanese man who was on death row for nearly half a century has been granted a retrial.
Iwao Hakamada, now 87, is the world's longest-serving death row inmate, according to Amnesty International.
He was sentenced to death in 1968 for murdering his boss, the man's wife and their two children in 1966.
The former professional boxer confessed after 20 days of interrogation during which he said he was beaten. He later retracted the confession in court.

Japan court backs retrial for 87-year-old death row inmate

Iwao Hakamada was held in solitary confinement for 45 years until DNA evidence emerged to undermine his conviction.

Police interrogated Hakamada for 20 days without a lawyer until, eventually, he confessed.

In testimony signed on September 9, 1966, Hakamada said he was responsible for the robbery, the murders, and the fire. He agreed with the police allegations that he was wearing pyjamas at the time, and used a small knife used to peel the soybeans to kill the family.

Hakamada later retracted his statement, saying he had been beaten, threatened, and forced to confess by the police.

 

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From Oct. 2023
Retrial starts for former death row inmate Hakamada | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
SHIZUOKA—A 90-year-old woman made an impassioned plea on Oct. 27 for the swift acquittal of her brother who spent decades on death row after being convicted of murder on dodgy evidence.

But Hideko Hakamada and her brother, Iwao, 87, will likely have to wait until next year for his name to be cleared.

That is because prosecutors, despite being rebuked by a high court, still plan to convict him again at his retrial, which started on Oct. 27 at the Shizuoka District Court.

Their arguments will prolong the retrial, and the verdict—most likely not guilty—may be handed down next spring.