Iwao Hakamata: World’s longest-serving death row prisoner proven innocent in Japan

Iwao Hakamada, left, is helped by a supporter as he goes for a walk in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan. (Picture credit: AP)

Iwao Hakamata, world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, was acquitted on Thursday, five decades after being wrongfully convicted of murdering four of a family in 1968, reported CNN.
The 88-year-old spent 46 years behind bars before DNA evidence led to his release in 2014, sparking widespread debates over Japan‘s criminal justice system, which has been criticised for its heavy reliance on confessions.
Forced confession and fabricated evidence
Hakamata, once a professional boxer, used to work at a soybean processing plant in Shizuoka when his boss and the boss’s family were found murdered in 1966.
After police interrogation and alleged beatings, Hakamata confessed to the crime but later retracted his statement, claiming his confession had been coerced. Despite this, he was convicted, largely based on bloodstained trousers found in a miso tank, which prosecutors claimed were his.
However, years later, new evidence, including DNA tests, revealed that the blood on the trousers did not belong to Hakamata or the victims.
The court ruled on Thursday that the clothing, which was key to his conviction, had been planted long after the murders. This admission has raised serious questions about the integrity of Japan’s legal process and its handling of evidence.
Fight for justice
Hakamata’s long fight for exoneration was led by his sister, Hideko, now 91, who has campaigned tirelessly for his release. She highlighted the psychological toll of his time on death row, stating that her brother now lives in his own world, barely recognising reality. His case has become emblematic of the issues within Japan’s judicial system, where prosecutors are known to prioritise confessions over concrete evidence.
Hakamata awaited execution in solitary confinement for nearly half a century, in a system where death row prisoners are often held in secrecy and executed without prior warning to their families. His case has also intensified calls for the abolition of the death penalty in Japan, the only G7 country, aside from the United States, to retain capital punishment.
Hakamata’s ordeal has not only exposed the deep flaws in Japan’s legal system but also fuelled ongoing debates about the country’s reliance on confessions and its use of the death penalty.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have used Hakamata’s case as a rallying cry for reform, urging Japan to reconsider its judicial practices.