MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.
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Japan | Shizuoka police chief apologizes to Iwao Hakamada after his acquittal
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The chief of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police on Monday offered an apology in person to Iwao Hakamada at his home in Shizuoka Prefecture following his acquittal in a retrial over a 1966 murder case last month.
Takayoshi Tsuda visited the home of Hakamada, 88, in the city of Hamamatsu, bowing deeply for about two minutes.
“I am sorry for the pain and burden I have caused you over the last 58 years, which cannot be expressed in words,” Tsuda said to Hakamada and his older sister Hideko, 91, who fought a decades-long legal battle on behalf of her brother.
In response, Hideko stated, “Both Iwao and I believe (what happened) was destiny. I have no intention of complaining now.”
In its retrial ruling on Sept. 26, the Shizuoka District Court said that investigators coerced Hakamada into confessing, and that bloodstained pieces of clothes believed to have been worn at the time of the crime were planted by investigative authorities.
Tsuda told reporters on Oct. 9, the day when prosecutors waived their right to appeal against the retrial ruling, that he intended to apologize to Hakamada in person.
Hakamada’s death sentence was initially finalized in 1980. But he and his defense team sought a retrial, which was granted in 2023. Hakamada was definitively exonerated when prosecutors decided not to appeal the ruling on Oct. 9.
Japan local police chief apologizes to man acquitted in 1966 murders
A local police chief in Japan on Monday apologized in person to an 88-year-old man who spent nearly half a century on death row before being acquitted in a retrial over a 1966 quadruple murder case.
"I am sorry for the unspeakable burden and trouble we have caused you over the long 58 years from the time of your arrest to your acquittal being finalized," Takayoshi Tsuda, chief of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police, said during a visit to Iwao Hakamada's home in Hamamatsu.
It was the first time that an official of the police or prosecutors has directly apologized to Hakamada, who was arrested by Shizuoka police in 1966 but released in 2014 after new evidence cast doubt on his conviction.
Recognized the same year as the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, he was acquitted in a retrial in September, with the verdict finalized earlier this month when prosecutors decided not to appeal.
His 91-year-old sister Hideko, who was at the meeting, told Tsuda, "Now I think it was fate. At this point, I have no intention of making complaints to the police. Thank you very much for coming all the way here today."
Hakamada has difficulties communicating with others after his mental state deteriorated during his years of incarceration on death row.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Tsuda again apologized, saying "coercive and intimidating interrogation" had been used against Hakamata. "We will conduct more thorough and appropriate investigations in the future," he said.
In its Sept. 26 ruling acquitting Hakamada, the Shizuoka District Court said investigators had fabricated evidence, including five pieces of clothing Hakamada allegedly wore during the incident. The items played a key role in his conviction.
The court also said his confession during questioning was "forced by inflicting physical and mental pain," calling his interrogation "inhumane."
The ruling was finalized on Oct. 9, marking an end to his family's decades-long struggle for justice.
Tsuda's visit to Hakamada came after he had told reporters he intended to offer him an apology in person and that the prefectural police were "sorry that Mr. Hakamdta was placed in an unstable legal status for a long time."
His remark followed a similar statement issued by Prosecutor General Naomi Unemoto apologizing to Hakamada.
The former professional boxer was a live-in employee at a miso maker when he was arrested for allegedly killing the firm's senior managing director, his wife and two of their children. They were found dead from stab wounds at their house in Shizuoka Prefecture, which had been burned down.
Indicted for murder, robbery and arson, his death sentence was finalized in 1980.
Under Trump, there were 13 executions in his last six months as president. Biden must clear death row now to stop that and what Albert Camus described as the most cold-blooded premeditated murder. On Jan. 14, 2021, I stood in a small chamber in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, while the federal government carried out an execution. Relegated to a spot 6 feet away from the gurney, I prayed with Corey Johnson, the “Gentle Giant” as he was known on death row. He was one of the last of 13 people executed under then-President Donald Trump, who carried out an unprecedented killing spree during the final six months of his presidency.
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YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso knelt to pray when officers came to take her to an execution site in May 2015, just a few feet away from her isolation cell on an Indonesian prison island, where a 13-member firing squad was waiting. While she prayed, the Philippines government was wrapping up a lengthy legal battle over her fate. Veloso’s life was ultimately spared — temporarily — by Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office, which issued a stay of execution shortly before Veloso was to be executed with eight other death row inmates.
SYDNEY, Australia -- The five remaining members of the Australian "Bali Nine" drug ring flew home Sunday after 19 years in jail in Indonesia, ending a saga that had frayed relations between the two countries. Indonesian police arrested the nine Australians in 2005, convicting them of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin off the holiday island of Bali. The case drew global attention to Indonesia's unforgiving drug laws, with two of the gang executed by firing squad, while the others served hefty prison sentences.
Ali Khaleqi Farghani, a 22-year-old prisoner convicted of premeditated murder, was executed on his birthday in Mashhad Central Prison on Thursday, December 5, 2024. According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization, he had been arrested two years ago on charges of premeditated murder and was subsequently sentenced to two counts of the death penalty.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.
Jakarta, Dec 14 (IANS) Indonesian Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas has said that President Prabowo Subianto would grant amnesty to several categories of prisoners, including drug users and prisoners with long-term illnesses. According to Supratman, the move aims to reduce overcapacity in correctional facilities while addressing humanitarian concerns, Xinhua news agency reported. Prisoners suffering from chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS and individuals with mental disorders are among those eligible.
A Filipina drug convict on death row in Indonesia told AFP from prison Friday that her planned transfer was a "miracle", in her first interview since Manila and Jakarta signed an agreement last week to repatriate her. Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines. Both she and her supporters claim she was duped by an international drug syndicate, and in 2015, she narrowly escaped execution after her suspected recruiter was arrested.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - A local pastor has been arranging protests against the state’s decision to continue with the upcoming execution of Joseph Corcoran for the past couple weekends. Anna Lisa Gross is a co-pastor at Beacon Heights here in Fort Wayne and has been working with multiple churches to protest the execution of Corcoran. “Our community has failed him more than one time, and now to kill him would do nothing,” says Gross.
HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors in Texas announced Friday that they will seek the death penalty against two Venezuelan men who are accused of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl after they had entered the U.S. illegally. The death of Jocelyn Nungaray was among several cases this year that became flashpoints in the debate over the nation’s immigration policies. Nungaray’s mother campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump, calling for better control of the border in the wake of her daughter’s death.
