The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada has been acquitted on Thursday, more than 50 years after his murder conviction, when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated.
The 88-year-old former boxer was unable to attend court due to his declining health. His retrial, granted a decade ago after a lengthy campaign by supporters, culminated in a verdict delivered in his absence.
However, his 91-year-old sister, Hideko, who often represents him, bowed deeply to the judge who declared her brother innocent.
“Everyone—thank you for your support; we won the acquittal,” she said outside the Shizuoka District Court, her voice breaking with emotion.
Hakamada spent 46 years on death row after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the boss’s wife, and their two teenage children.
The court’s ruling highlighted that “investigators tampered with clothes by getting blood on them” and concealed them in a tank of miso paste. The ruling condemned the use of “inhumane interrogations aimed at forcing a confession” through mental and physical pain.
The court stated that the prosecution’s records were obtained in violation of Hakamada’s right to remain silent and under conditions that likely led to a false confession.
Hundreds of people lined up to witness the verdict in a case that has captivated the nation and drawn attention to Japan’s justice system. Prosecutors have two weeks to appeal the ruling, according to Japanese media.
After the verdict, Hideko described the not-guilty decision as “sounding divine.” Wearing a white jacket—chosen deliberately to avoid dark colors—she expressed her hope for her brother’s innocence.
Japan remains one of the few major industrialized democracies, alongside the United States, that retains capital punishment, a policy that enjoys broad public support.
Hakamada is only the fifth death row inmate in Japan’s post-war history to be granted a retrial, and all four previous cases resulted in exonerations.
His lead attorney, Hideyo Ogawa, remarked that Hakamada often appears to live in a “world of fantasy” after decades spent largely in solitary confinement. Reflecting on his struggle for acquittal in 2018, Hakamada described it as “fighting a bout every day,” stating, “Once you think you can’t win, there is no path to victory.”
Although initially unaware of the verdict, Japanese media reported that supporters had removed the batteries from his TV remote on the day of the ruling. Hideko expressed her intention to share the news with him at the right moment.
Hakamada had initially denied involvement in the crimes but later confessed following what he described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.
After the verdict, Ogawa stated that 58 years was “too long” to resolve the case, but noted that the judge’s findings of falsification on three major issues marked a significant milestone.
Hakamada’s death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1980, but his supporters persevered in seeking to reopen the case.
A retrial was granted in 2014, and although he was released from prison, the proceedings only began last year due to legal delays.
Supporter Atsushi Zukeran, wearing a T-shirt that read “Free Hakamada Now,” emphasized that the case highlights the urgent need for reform in Japan’s criminal justice system. He noted that, given the lengthy duration of the ordeal, “part of me wouldn’t be able to celebrate the acquittal entirely”.
Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer for Human Rights Watch, remarked that Hakamada’s situation is just one of many examples of Japan’s so-called “hostage justice” system.
Amnesty International stated that Hakamada had endured “almost half a century of wrongful imprisonment and an additional 10 years awaiting his retrial”.
Boram Jang, the rights group’s East Asia researcher, called the verdict “an important recognition of the profound injustice he suffered for most of his life”.
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