World’s longest-serving death row prisoner declared innocent in Japan

Japan’s criminal justice system faces scrutiny as Iwao Hakamata is acquitted after decades of wrongful imprisonment.

A Japanese court has acquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamata, the world's longest-serving death row inmate, more than 50 years after he was wrongfully convicted of murder.

Hakamata was sentenced to death in 1968 for allegedly killing his boss, his boss’s wife, and their two children.

His conviction was based on a forced confession and bloodstained trousers found in a miso tank, which the court now ruled were planted by the authorities long after the murders occurred.

Hakamata was arrested on August 18, 1966, when he was 30 years old.

Hakamata, a former professional boxer, had always maintained his innocence, claiming police coerced his confession through beatings and threats during days of intense interrogation.

Despite changing his plea, he was sentenced to death in a 2-1 decision, with the dissenting judge resigning shortly after.

After spending nearly five decades on death row, a DNA test in 2014 revealed the blood on the trousers did not match Hakamata or the victims, prompting a retrial.

Hakamata, pictured here in 1957, was briefly a professional boxer. Decades after his retirement, his former boxing association has organized demonstrations in support of a retrial.

The Shizuoka District Court ruled that the bloodstains would not have stayed reddish if soaked in miso for over a year, concluding that the evidence was fabricated.

Though his supporters celebrated the decision, Hakamata’s mental health has significantly deteriorated after years of isolation in prison, with his sister revealing that he now lives in a world of his own.

Japan’s reliance on confessions to secure convictions and its controversial use of the death penalty have come under global scrutiny following this case.

In a letter to his mother following his third trial in 1967, Hakamata apologized for making his family worry. “God, I am not a criminal,” he wrote.

Japan is one of the few G7 nations, alongside the United States, that still retains the death penalty.

Critics argue that Hakamata’s case highlights the flaws in the country’s judicial system, particularly its dependence on confessions.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have called for reforms, citing the frequent use of solitary confinement and the secrecy surrounding executions.

Despite his declining mental state, Hakamata now enjoys small freedoms, including caring for his two adopted cats and going on drives with his supporters.