Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, expressed his gratitude to supporters for helping him achieve “complete victory” after a Japanese court overturned his decades-old murder conviction last week. Hakamada, now 88 years old, was declared innocent of the quadruple murder he was accused of, having spent 46 years on death row.
“Finally I have won full and complete victory,” Hakamada stated on Sunday in Shizuoka, the region southwest of Tokyo where the ruling was issued. He was visibly emotional, wearing a green hat and smiling as he addressed a group of supporters. “I couldn’t wait any longer” to hear the not-guilty verdict, he added, thanking everyone for their support. His sister, 91-year-old Hideko, accompanied him during this emotional moment, which was broadcasted on Japanese television.
Japan, alongside the United States, is one of the few major industrialized democracies that still retains capital punishment, a practice that enjoys broad public support. Hakamada is only the fifth death row inmate to be granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history, and like the previous four cases, his retrial resulted in exoneration.
Hakamada spent decades in detention, mostly in solitary confinement, facing the constant threat of execution. His prolonged imprisonment has severely affected his mental health, with his lawyer and supporters describing him as “living in a world of fantasy.” Although he was released in 2014 pending retrial, Hakamada has rarely spoken publicly since then.