Iwao Hakamada, an 88-year-old former boxer, was found not guilty in a retrial for a quadruple murder in 1966 after spending decades on death row in Japan. The Shizuoka District Court reversed his earlier wrongful conviction, making him the fifth death-row convict to be acquitted in post-war Japanese criminal justice history. The case has sparked a debate about abolishing the death penalty in the country.
Hakamada was initially convicted in 1968 for the murder of a company manager and three family members, as well as setting their home on fire. He spent 48 years behind bars, 45 of them on death row, becoming the world’s longest-serving death row inmate.
The retrial process was lengthy, with Hakamada’s first appeal denied after 27 years, and his second appeal finally resulting in a retrial in 2023. The court found multiple fabrications of evidence and confirmed that Hakamada was not the culprit.
One major point of contention was blood-stained clothing that investigators claimed Hakamada wore during the crime, found more than a year after his arrest. DNA evidence did not match Hakamada, and the clothing did not fit him when he tried it on in court.
Hakamada’s sister, Hideko Hakamada, who has dedicated half of her life to proving his innocence, expressed relief at the court’s decision. She called for a more accessible retrial system and criticized prosecutors for demanding the death penalty, causing further delays.
This case has reignited the discussion on capital punishment in Japan, one of the few countries in the G7 that still practices it. Supporters of Hakamada hope his case will lead to reforms in the criminal justice system to prevent similar injustices in the future.
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