Iwao Hakamada’s story could be a Hollywood script but it is true. The 87-year-old Japanese man is considered the world’s oldest death row inmate, who has yet to be executed, almost 60 years after he was (initially) found guilty of murder.

In 1968 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for a quadruple murder: of his boss and three members of his family and has been awaiting execution ever since – Japan, along with the US, is one of the last industrialized and democratic countries to impose the death penalty

Today, however, a court in Japan ordered a retrial of Hakamada’s case.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for 57 years and it’s here,” Hakamada’s sister Hideko said outside the Tokyo High Court as supporters chanted: “Free Hakamada now.”

In and out of prison

Hakamada confessed to the crime after weeks of interrogation, but later recanted. Since then he has not stopped declaring his innocence.

The former boxer was released in 2014 after a court accepted there were doubts about his guilt, based on DNA tests carried out on his clothes, a key element of the initial prosecution, and agreed to a new trial. But in 2018, following an appeal by the prosecution, the Tokyo High Court questioned the validity of the DNA tests and overturned the 2014 decision.

In late 2020 Japan’s Supreme Court overturned a ruling barring Hakamada from being tried again, a news his sister had described as a “Christmas present”.

His relatives highlight the psychological problems Hakamada faces after four decades in a cell where he awaited execution by hanging every day.

In recent years, requests for a review of various cases in Japan have increased due to changes in the judicial system.