World's longest-serving death row prisoner declared innocent after 56 years

The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner has been acquitted after a long 56 years. Iwao Hakamanda was convicted of the 1966 murder of his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage kids.

The former professional boxer had been working at a miso processing plant when the bodies of the family were recovered from a fire at their home west of Tokyo, Japan. All four of them had been stabbed to death.

Initially denying the accusations, he was sentenced to death after making what he later claimed was a coerced confession.

Hakamanda spent a whopping 48 years behind bars and most of them were on death row – earning him this unwanted title of the world’s longest-serving death row inmate.

It took a whole 27 years for the top court to deny his first appeal for retrial, with his second filed in 2008 by his sister, Hideko Hakamada, now 91.

He had been convicted of murder and arson. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

The court finally ruled in the man’s favour in 2023, paving the way for this latest retrial which began in October.

A major point of the discussion had been blood-stained clothing which investigators claimed Hakamada wore during the crime and hid in a tank of fermented soybean paste. These were found more than a year after his arrest.

But, defence lawyers and earlier retrial decisions said the blood samples did not match Hakamada’s DNA. Meanwhile, trousers prosecutors submitted as evidence were said to be too small for the accused and didn’t fit when he tried them on.

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Hakamanda actually hasn’t been technically behind bars since 2014, when a court ordered a retrial as new evidence suggested his conviction may have been based on fabricated accusations by investigators. However, he was not acquitted.

He was able to serve his sentence at home as it was decided his older age and frail health made him a low risk for escape.

Before today’s decision, prosecutors at the final hearing in May again demanded the death penalty. And this led to rights groups and legal experts calling for the system to be revised.

A retrial was ordered in 2023. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

And today, Hakamanda was finally acquitted after a court found him not guilty of the 60s charges.

“The court finds the defendant innocent," judge Koshi Kunii said.

Hideko has essentially spent half her life trying to prove her brother’s innocence as she said before today’s ruling that she was in a never-ending battle.

“It is so difficult to get a retrial started,” She told reporters in Tokyo. “Not just Iwao, but I’m sure there are other people who have been wrongly accused and crying.

“I want the criminal law revised so that retrials are more easily available.”