Support for Hakamada Iwao in Japan

Hakamada Iwao is Stockport Group's "Person At Risk"; his case is one that we take a special interest in, and we campaign on his behalf.

He has the unfortunate distinction of having spent more time on death row than any other prison in the world.   

There are doubts over his conviction, he was convicted on a 2 to 3 majority verdict and the judge who disagreed with the conviction for murder has campaigned for his release.   

DNA tests on clothing found at the murder scene have been judged to be inconclusive, meaning Hakamada's DNA has not been found.   His case is currently under review and at the end of March a decision is expected on allowing a retrial.

This is a picture of Hakamada's supporters in Japan in January.  They are calling for Hakamada's case to ber reviewed by the Japanese legal system.  Last year, Amnesty collected signatures on petitions calling for the Japanese authorities to undertake a retrial.  Over 41,000 signatures were submitted to the authorities, including 17,000 from the UK.