A former inmate in Japan is starting over after spending more than 40 years on death row. On Thursday (September 26), Iwao Hakamada won a new trial for his quadruple murder conviction. He is 88 years old.
See why the court acquitted the death row inmate
According to the BBCa Japanese court kept him behind bars after finding him guilty of killing the miso factory boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children. The family died in their home from stab wounds and their house was set on fire. Prosecutors charged Iwao with the murders, arson and the theft of about $1,400 in cash (200,000 Japanese yen).
Several international media outlets have claimed that Iwao holds the world record for the longest-serving death row inmate – 46 years in total. For context, he was accused of the family’s murders in 1966 and convicted in 1968. However, theauthorities only finalized his death sentence in 1980. He initially maintained his innocence but later gave what he calls a coerced confession. The aforementioned confession occurred after beatings and interrogations that allegedly lasted up to 12 hours a day.
On the legal side, the case took a minute to reach an acquittal. He was first granted a new trial in 2014 after the court suspected investigators may have fabricated “key evidence” related to the murders. The process took almost a decade to begin in October 2023. In the end, there would have been 15 hearings, which led to the acquittal of the death row inmate.
Where is Iwao Hakamada now?
Iwao’s years on death row reportedly impacted his mental health. He has been in the care of his 91-year-old sister Hideko since the court approved his retrial in 2014. At the time, judge Hiroaki Murayama ruled it was “unfair” to detain Iwao any longer with the possibility of his innocence emerging. approaching.
Hideko, who has long defended her brother’s innocence, said she could not hold back her tears after being told “not guilty.” However, the BBC reports that he was unable to attend the acquittal hearing due to his health.
The case was huge in the Asian country in the late 1960s and continues to attract widespread attention. The BBC reports that around 500 people lined up to get a place at Thursday’s hearing. However, Iwao’s victory is a rare occurrence in Japan, where death row inmates rarely get a new trial. The BBC reports that only four others have been allowed a retrial in the country’s post-war history.
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