Japan’s longest serving death row inmate found innocent

In a recent article, the BBC have reported a court has declared Iwao Hakamata innocent in September, the world’s longest serving death row inmate.

Hideko  Hakamata, had been fighting for her brother's retrial ever since he was convicted of quadruple murder in 1968.

In September 2024, at the age of 88, he was finally acquitted - ending Japan's longest running legal saga.

Mr Hakamata's case is remarkable. But it also shines a light on the systemic brutality underpinning Japan's justice system, where death row inmates are only notified of their hanging a few hours in advance, and spend years unsure whether each day will be their last.

Human rights experts have long condemned such treatment as cruel and inhuman, saying it exacerbates prisoners' risk of developing a serious mental illness.

And more than half a lifetime spent in solitary confinement, waiting to be executed for a crime he didn't commit, took a heavy toll on Mr Hakamata.

Japan has a 99% conviction rate, and a system of so-called "hostage justice" which, according to Kanae Doi, Japan director at Human Rights Watch, "denies people arrested their rights to a presumption of innocence, a prompt and fair bail hearing, and access to counsel during questioning".

You can read the article here.