Letters from Death Row Iwao Hakamada
The odds were always stacked against Iwao Hakamada. Prosecutors in Japan have a 99-percent conviction rate for individuals charged with crimes. And for inmates who insist they are innocent, getting a court to grant a retrial has been extremely rare.
Hakamada, 88, is also fighting against time to clear his name. He was recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest serving death row inmate.
Consistently maintaining his innocence, the former professional boxer kept writing to his family following his arrest in the 1960s through the 1990s, after his death sentence was finalized.
In 2014, a district court accepted Iwao Hakamada’s motion for a retrial, citing the possibility that key evidence against him had been fabricated.
The court also ordered Hakamada’s release, ending his incarceration spanning more than 47 years.
However, the time on death row took a heavy toll on his mental condition.
For his
retrial, which started in 2023, Hakamada is not required to appear in court because he was deemed mentally unfit to give credible testimony. His thousands of letters are now invaluable testimonials about his life behind bars, revealing a roller-coaster ride of emotions, from hopefulness to despair, and the decline in his mental health.
The letters were published here after permission was granted from his sister, Hideko, who received and stored them.
👉 Click
here to read Iwao's letters (English translation provided)
Source:
asahi.com, Published: Japanese, Oct 26, 2023; English, May 14, 2024. Translation by
Mayumi Maruyama
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
