NEWSWORTHY
Free pending retrial, Japanese boxer sentenced to death keeps up the good fight
Shuffling down the street sporting shorts, a jacket and straw hat, 82-year-old Iwao Hakamada could be mistaken for any Japanese octogenarian going about his daily chores. But the former boxer has had anything but an ordinary life: He has been living under a death sentence ...
A man convicted in a 1966 quadruple murder case filed an appeal Monday with the Supreme Court to seek a retrial, his lawyers said, even though he was freed in 2014 after spending nearly half a century on death row. Former professional boxer Iwao Hakamada, ...
High court rejects decision to reopen 1966 Hakamada quadruple murder case
The Tokyo High Court on Monday overturned the Shizuoka District Court's decision to reopen the 1966 murder case involving former professional boxer Iwao Hakamada, who was convicted of killing four people, despite recent DNA evidence that undermined his prosecution. The case, often cited as an ...
Once falsely convicted in Japan, rarely exonerated
A lot of eating goes on in the new documentary "Gokutomo" ("Friends in Prison"), which is about five men, all convicted of murder, who spent many years in prison. Watching one of them casually buy a sweet bean bun at a convenience store, you ...
Having spent 48 years in prison for a crime he likely didn't commit, 81-year-old Iwao Hakamada deserves a timely retrial.
Travesty of justice: legal reform unlikely despite erroneous convictions
Two elderly men fighting for decades to clear their names are poised to receive high-profile retrials in 2016 and yet their ordeals are unlikely to trigger wide-ranging reform to the country’s justice system, experts say.
Documentary examines death-row inmate's new life after 48-year wait for hangman
A new documentary movie portrays the new daily ordeal of a man who lived for almost half a century in solitary confinement and in fear of the gallows. "Freedom Moon" depicts the daily life of Iwao Hakamada, a former boxer who served 48 years in ...
A Japanese high court plans to conduct an experiment to see if it is possible to replicate DNA test results that were the basis of a lower court's decision to reopen a 1966 murder case and free Iwao Hakamada, who spent decades on death ...
Amnesty hopes Hakamada's release will spur death penalty reform in Japan
A prominent human rights group hopes the decision to release the world's longest serving death row inmate will spur greater debate in Japan about capital punishment and spur domestic reforms. Chiara Sangiorgio, spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said Wednesday she is happy with last year's decision ...
Prosecutors concealed evidence that could have cleared Hakamada, lawyers allege
Iwao Hakamada spent more than 40 years on death row, a fate that might have been avoided if prosecutors had not concealed key evidence, his lawyers allege.
Man who killed three, including kids, hanged
A 68-year-old death row inmate is hanged for killing three people seven years ago, including children, despite growing unease about capital punishment.
Hakamada has first appearance as reprieve pends
Apparently perplexed but yet thrilled to find himself in the spotlight, Iwao Hakamada, formerly the world's longest-serving death-row inmate, appeared for the first time in public Monday since being hospitalized after his release. Supporters cheered Hakamada at an event in Tokyo to raise his spirits ...
