After 46 Years on Death Row, 88-Year-Old Former Boxer Cleared of 1966 Miso Factory Murders in Landmark Japanese Court Ruling
Shizuoka, Japan — In a landmark ruling on Thursday, the Shizuoka District Court declared 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada innocent of the 1966 quadruple homicide for which he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 1968. The former boxer, who spent nearly half a century on death row, became a symbol of Japan’s contested justice system and its retention of the death penalty. Hakamada was arrested for the murder of a miso factory manager and his …