Month: September 2024

The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted by a Japanese court on Thursday, more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.

The Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago.

“The court finds the defendant innocent,” judge Koshi Kunii said.

Hakamada’s health is delicate and he was not present in court, but his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who often speaks for him, bowed deeply to Kunii several times.

Until he was freed in 2014 pending retrial, Hakamada had been on death row for 46 years after being convicted of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children.

But over the years, questions arose over fabricated evidence and coerced confessions, sparking scrutiny of Japan’s justice system, which critics say holds suspects “hostage”.

Hundreds of people had queued in the morning at the Shizuoka District Court, trying to secure a seat for the verdict in the murder saga that has gripped the nation.

“For so long, we have fought a battle that has felt endless,” Hideko had told reporters in July.

“But this time, I believe it will be settled.”

– Fighting ‘every day’ –

Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment, a policy that has broad public support.

Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exoneration.

After decades of detention, mostly in solitary confinement, Hakamada sometimes seems like he “lives in a world of fantasy”, according to his lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa.

Speaking to AFP in 2018, Hakamada underlined his ongoing battle to obtain an acquittal, saying he felt he was “fighting a bout every day”.

“Once you think you can’t win, there is no path to victory,” he said.

Outside the court, Hakamada’s supporters held flags and banners calling for a not-guilty verdict.

Atsushi Zukeran, wearing a T-shirt saying “Free Hakamada Now”, told AFP he was “absolutely certain he will be acquitted” due to the qualms over the evidence.

But given how long the affair has dragged on, with Hakamada maintaining his innocence throughout, “part of me wouldn’t be able to celebrate the acquittal entirely”, Zukeran said.

“His case is a painful reminder of how Japan’s criminal justice system must change,” he added.

– Blood and miso –

Although the Supreme Court upheld Hakamada’s death sentence in 1980, his supporters fought for decades to have the case reopened.

A turning point came in 2014 when a retrial was granted on the grounds that prosecutors could have planted evidence, and Hakamada was released from prison.

Legal wrangling, including a pushback by prosecutors, meant it took until last year for the retrial to begin.

Hakamada initially denied having robbed and murdered the victims, but confessed following what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.

Central to the trial was a set of blood-stained clothes found in a tank of miso — fermented soybean paste — a year after the 1966 murders, used as evidence to incriminate Hakamada.

The defence accused investigators of a set-up, as the red stains on the clothes were too bright, but prosecutors said their own experiments showed the colour was credible.

In Japan, death row prisoners are notified of their hanging only a few hours in advance.

As of December, 107 prisoners were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out. It is always done by hanging.

Hakamada’s case is “just one of countless examples of Japan’s so-called ‘hostage justice’ system”, Teppei Kasai, Asia programme officer for Human Rights Watch, told AFP.

“Suspects are forced to confess through long and arbitrary periods of detention” and there is often “intimidation during interrogation”, he said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)

NEW DELHI: The Congress, which had vehemently opposed the “display nameplate” diktat for eateries on the route of Kanwar Yatra by BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments, finds itself in an embarrassing situation with party’s minister in Himachal Pradesh Vikramaditya Singh announcing a similar proposal for the state.
Vikramaditya Singh, who is the state public works minister, had on Wednesday announced that it will be mandatory for all shopkeepers and street vendors in Himachal Pradesh to display their identity cards.Street vendors, especially those selling food items, will also be checked for hygiene and quality by the food supplies department, he had added. The Himachal minister defended the move citing internal security concerns, people’s apprehensions and also drug menace in the state.
The proposal comes in the backdrop of massive protests against the dispute over illegal construction in Shimla’s Sanjauli mosque which put the spotlight on growing street vendors in the state and led to demands for a policy to identify, verify and register them. Following the incident, assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania constituted a seven-member committee of the assembly to make a street vendors policy.
“The decision on ID cards was taken considering “apprehensions” expressed by several locals about rising number of migrants in the state,” Vikramaditya Singh said. He had also mentioned that the decision was taken on the lines of the one taken by the Uttar Pradesh government. “We have decided to make it mandatory for the street vendors to display their ID cards given by the street vendor’s committee on the pattern adopted by the Uttar Pradesh government, which pioneered the idea,” Singh had said.

However, the move has raised a storm within the party. Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo has openly criticised the state government’s move. “I do not agree with the Himachal government’s decision. I saw a video on social media showing crosses being marked above the shutters of minority-owned shops, indicating a boycott. This is condemnable, and if the Himachal government is doing this, questions will arise about whether it deserves to remain in power,” Deo told news agency IANS.
The Congress incharge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla said that connecting the Himachal move to Uttar Pradesh was not right. “Vikramaditya has said that this is done to make sure only authorised persons can set up shops. The Himachal Pradesh assembly speaker has made an all-party committee to regulate hawkers and to give them licenses. Connecting this to Uttar Pradesh is not right,” the Congress leader said.
Reports say the Congress leadership is not happy with Vikramaditya going overboard with the announcements. The Himachal Pradesh government has tried to distance itself from Vikramaditya’s remarks and clarified that the proposal is yet to get a cabinet nod. Shukla also presented a report to the Congress high command on the proposal, news agency ANI reported.
The Himachal Pradesh government on Thursday issued a statement clarifying that no such decision has been taken.
However, the BJP has been quick to latch on to Vikramaditya’s announcements and not just welcomed it but has also taken credit for initiating the move during its government in the state. “If the government is going to do this then I welcome it. There was already a street vendors policy which we had implemented but it was stopped after the Congress government came. Today we feel that it is needed, their minister himself has said this. I hope Vikramaditya Singh will stick to his word. We welcome his move,” former Himachal Pradesh CM and LoP Jairam Thakur said.
When the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments had made a similar diktat during the Kanwar yatra, Congress was at the forefront opposing the order. Priyanka Gandhi had called the police directive “a crime against Contitution.”
“Creating division in society on the basis of caste and religion is a crime against the Constitution. This order should be withdrawn immediately and strict action should be taken against the officials who issued it,” Priyanka had then written on X.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi had criticized the diktat and accused the BJP of resorting to communal politics. “After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is not able to digest its moral defeat. So it has returned to the path of communal politics. An order has come that directs shopkeepers to display their names on their food stalls in Uttar Pradesh during the Kanwar yatra, in Assam politics is going on about the population of a certain community,” Gogoi had then said.
The Supreme Court had eventually stayed the enforcement of these directives and had said that eateries should not be compelled by the police to display the names or, for that matter, the caste or religious identity of their owners or employees.