Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to be hanged for the murder of family of four in 1968 but DNA evidence cast serious doubts on his conviction. Photos / AP
Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to be hanged for the murder of family of four in 1968 but DNA evidence cast serious doubts on his conviction. Photos / AP
A former professional boxer dubbed the world’s longest-serving death row inmate was on Monday finally granted a retrial after spending most of his 50-year prison sentence in solitary confinement.
Iwao Hakamada, 87, was sentenced to be hanged for the murder of a family of four in 1968 but DNA evidence later cast serious doubts on his initial conviction. Now his case will be looked at again, following a ruling by Tokyo’s High Court.
“I was waiting for this day for 57 years and it has come,” his sister, Hideko, aged 90, said. “Finally a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”
For Hakamada, who spent much of his incarceration facing the daily possibility of execution, the move marks the latest twist in a decades-long legal battle.
Iwao Hakamada flashes v-signs on his way back from a walk in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan Monday, March 13, 2023. Photo / AP
It was on June 30 1966 that police discovered the bodies of Hakamada’s then boss Fumio Hashiguchi, the owner of a miso factory, alongside his wife and two teenage children. The family had apparently been robbed before the house was set on fire.
Arrested two months later, Hakamada initially denied the accusations, but later reportedly confessed after what he claimed was a violent police interrogation, including beatings.
He was sentenced to death in 1968, with later attempts to retract his “forced” confession rejected in a Supreme Court hearing in 1980.
Following a lengthy legal battle, in 2014, a district court in the central city of Shizuoka granted a retrial, after concluding that investigators could have planted evidence.
Four years later, Tokyo’s High Court overturned the lower court ruling, resulting in the case being sent to the Supreme Court on appeal. This resulted in judges ruling in 2020 that the Tokyo High Court should reconsider its decision.
Supporters have highlighted how a key piece of evidence used to convict him was a set of blood-stained clothing that came to light more than a year after the crime.
However, the clothing reportedly did not fit him and the bloodstains appeared fresher than a year old. DNA tests also found no connection to Hakamada, although the High Court rejected the testing methods.
The protracted legal battle followed by his prolonged incarceration has reportedly taken its toll on Hakamada’s mental health, with his sister telling media on Monday that she does not talk about the trials with him.
“I will only tell him to rest assured, because we got a good result,” she said. “Now, I just need to make sure I can see the retrial begin.”
Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1980. Photo / AP
However, there were fears that the process for a retrial could take years if a special appeal is filed, with some experts urging a reform of the system.
Motoji Kobayashi, president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, said: “We cannot afford any further delay to remedy Mr Hakamada, who has an advanced age of 87 and suffers mental and physical conditions after 47 years of physical restraint.”
Amnesty International also welcomed the latest development as a “long-overdue chance to deliver some justice”.
Hakamada has been serving his sentence at home since his release in 2014 because his frail health and age made him a low risk for escape.
Japan and the United States are the only two countries in the Group of Seven advanced nations that retain capital punishment. A survey by the Japanese government showed an overwhelming majority of the public support executions.
Executions are carried out in secrecy in Japan and prisoners are not informed of their fate until the morning they are hanged. Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, but disclosures are still limited.
