87-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamata, who was on world's longest death row for murder, has been granted a retrial 

Former Japanese pro boxer Iwao Hakamata is the world's longest serving death row inmate as per Amnesty International.

The then 30-year-old was arrested in 1966 for the alleged murder of a family of four. After being rigorously interrogated for 21 days, Hakamata confessed to stabbing his employer, his wife and two teenage children to death before setting the house on fire with gasoline.

While he retracted the confession in court, the former pro-boxer ended up spending 48 years in detention. Since his first court hearing Hakamata has remained solid on his stance, continuing to fight for exoneration.

He was released from prison in 2014 after the Shizuoka District Court granted a retrial request which was denied by the Tokyo High Court in 2018 after Tokyo prosecutor appealed it.

However, there finally seems to be hope for Hakamata with the Tokyo High Court recently ordering a retrial on March 13. Tokyo prosecutors have also decided to not the appeal the retrial where judges will rule if DNA from blood stains found on clothing alleged to have been worn by the killer matches Hakamata's.

The 87-year old former boxer, who now lives with his 90-year-old sister Hideko Hakamata, couldn't fully comprehend when the news of the retrial dropped.

Iwao Hakamata has been suffering with his mental health

Iwao Hakamata wrote over 5000 pages of letters, postcards and diary entries during his detention. While his initial letters expressed hope, they gradually showed a sign of helplessness and desperation after his death sentence was announced.

Hakamata spent almost 34 years in solitary confinement which has taken a massive toll on his mental health. As per his physician, the 87-year-old has Ganser syndrome which is rare dissociative disorder characterized by nonsensical answers and hallucinations, found to be common in prisoners. Hakamata's sister said in a booklet compiled by the defense team:

“He started to lose himself after someone next to his prison cell was executed just after his capital punishment was finalized. He started saying there was someone emitting radio waves, or wearing a snack bag over his head when I went to meet him, or saying he doesn’t have an older sister."

It was keeping Iwao Hakamata's mental health in mind that the Japan Federation of Bar Associations decided not to appeal the retrial. One of the few industrialized democracies to be still practicing the death penalty, Japan has long been critcised for reliance on confessions.