Japan: Justice for Hakamada Iwao

Hakamada Iwao © Private ACTION TYPE LETTER

Hakamada Iwao is 77 years old. He has spent the majority of his life on death row, awaiting execution every day for a crime he claims he did not commit. New DNA evidence could reinforce his claims of innocence. Please help us to ask for a retrial for Hakamada.

Demand justice for Hakamada

The campaign for justice has become even more urgent because we are fearful that the new government, which swept to power in December 2012, will up the pace of executions. Three have already taken place this year, and the new Minister of Justice has publicly declared his support for the death penalty.

DNA results

According to Hakamada’s lawyers, forensic test results disclosed on 13 April 2012 show no match between Hakamada’s DNA and samples taken from clothing he is alleged by the prosecution to have worn at the time of the crime. An expert for the prosecution told the media that they have been unable to determine a match so far.

The District court has decided to continue examining the DNA analysis results at an appeal that will begin on 19 October 2012. The court will then judge the credibility of all of the DNA tests and decide whether or not to grant Hakamada Iwao a retrial.

Hakamada’s lawyers believe these results cast doubt on Hakamada’s original conviction as they undermine crucial evidence linking him to the murders.

44 years on death row

Believed to be the world's longest-serving death row inmate, Hakamada was tried and sentenced to death in 1968 for the deaths of four people. His conviction rested principally on the basis of a confession which he later retracted at trial. He says he was beaten and forced to confess after 20 days of intensive interrogation. One of the three judges on his case has publicly stated that he believes Hakamada is innocent, but was outvoted by the other judges at the trial.

Endless torment

Executions in Japan are carried out in secret and without warning to the prisoner of family so Hakamada does not know from one day to the next when he will be executed. Psychiatric examinations have shown that Hakamada has a mental illness as a result of the many years he has spent on death row, many or which have been in solitary confinement.

Japan resumes executions

2011 was the first year in two decades in which Japan did not carry out any executions. We were horrified that on 29 March 2012, the then Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa consented for three prisoners to be executed by hanging. Under a year later, on 21 February 2013, the newly elected government approved the execution of three other prisoners. We are concerned this is just the beginning.

It is important now more than ever to continue taking action and demand justice for Hakamada. Read more about our campaign for Hakamada

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Use the form below to write to the Minister of Justice, Sadakazu Tanigaki, and call for Hakamada's execution to be stayed.

Subject

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you to ask you to give urgent attention to the case of Hakamada Iwao.

Believed to be the world’s longest serving death row prisoner, Hakamada Iwao has been on death row since 1968.  He was sentenced to death primarily on the basis of a confession extracted under duress after 20 days of intensive interrogation. No lawyers were present during these sessions, and at his trial Mr Hakamada said that he had been beaten and threatened by police officers to coerce him into signing his confession.

The principal judge presiding over the case has since publicly stated that he believes Hakamada Iwao is innocent of the crime. In a testimony before the UN he said 'I could not convince the other two judges that Hakamada was not guilty so I had to convict him as the decision was made by the majority…I pray for his exoneration every day'.

Mr Hakamada has now spent many of his years in prison in solitary confinement, and as a consequence is suffering from what one psychiatrist has described as 'prison psychosis' with megalomania and thought disorder. International law clearly prohibits the execution of the mentally ill and Japan’s own Criminal Code gives the Minister of Justice the power and responsibility to stay an execution 'if a person condemned to death is in a state of insanity'.

I write to call on the Government of Japan to stop the execution of Hakamada Iwao and to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty, joining the 140 countries around the world  who have, in law or in practice, ended capital punishment.

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Take Action

Japan: Justice for Hakamada Iwao

DNA results

44 years on death row

Endless torment

Japan resumes executions