Published: Just now
A court in Tokyo has decided that an 87-year-old prisoner who spent nearly 60 years on death row will have a new trial.
Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 for murdering his boss, his wife and their two children – and is considered to be the person in the world who has spent the longest time on death row.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for 57 years – and now it’s here,” said Hakamada’s 90-year-old sister Hideko, who for decades fought for her brother’s case to be retried, after the announcement.
Former boxer Hakamada initially denied the allegations, but later confessed – after what he later described as brutal police interrogations that included beatings.
Over the years, more and more people have also begun to doubt Iwao Hakamada’s guilt – and, among other things, claimed that DNA tests could not connect him to the crimes.
The human rights organization Amnesty International welcomes the announcement that a new trial will be held, calling it a “long overdue chance for justice”.
“Hakamada’s conviction was based on a coerced confession and there are serious doubts about the other evidence against him,” said Hideaki Nakagawa, head of Amnesty International Japan.