Iwao Hakamata finally declared not guilty in retrial
By Joe Koizumi
It was a very sad story which, however, eventually turned dramatic and heart-warming in the end. Having been detained 48 years, former boxer and ex-convict on death row Iwao Hakamata, 88, was finally sentenced not guilty in a long-awaited retrial at the Shizuoka District Court in Japan on Thursday. It was in 1966 that he, an employee, was arrested and accused of murdering four persons of the employer’s family. It was the time that boxing itself was discriminated as poor people’s hungry sport and participants were also looked down by society. Hakamata was once forced to confess to have committed a murder due to the severe torture by the prosecutor twelve hours every day for nineteen days straight.
His elder sister Hideko, 91, had repeatedly appealed to the court that Iwao should not be guilty thanks to the nationwide support including warm and strong cooperation of former OPBF champ Shosei Nitta, then the secretary general of the JPBA (Japan Professional Boxing Association, that is, the club owners union) and other ex-boxers such as Satoshi Iida, Hiroyuki Sakamoto, Yutaka Manabe, etc. They battled against the discrimination to boxing and fought against injustice forced on Hakamata.
Judge Koshi Kunii said, “The defendant is not guilty.” He also said to his sister Hideko, “This decision has opened the door to freedom for Iwao Hakamata. As a judge, I feel sorry for having delayed so long.”
Iwao wasn’t at the dramatic court. Sad enough, a too-long detention caused his detainment syndrome. He has suffered such a mental decrease that he cannot properly respond to other people’s communication with him. His sister Hideko’s good information didn’t seem to be deeply appreciated by “Japanese Hurricane Carter” Iwao Hakamata, 16-11-2, just one KO but no KO defeats, including eighteen fights just in 1960. He was a very tough and durable featherweight. This reporter still remembers his indomitable fights.
The judged apologized for a “delay.” A delay might be a few days, a weeks or months, but it took 48 years!! They took away his life as he’s now 88
Damage is already done. They broke that man years ago. Difference is that Hurricane Carter got vindicated a lot sooner than Mr. Iawo and got the hell out of Amerikkka. There’s 1000’s of Hurricane Carters in American jails right now. In Japan, they seem to target the “poor”, in America, unfortunately, they target the poor and melinated.
Oh, poor victim. You can easily renounce your citizenship and choose a country that suits your obviously misaligned ideals. I’m sure if you chose a third world country, you would come running home back to your entitled life just to complain how your life is soooo bad. Crybaby.
The Boxing fans are racist and biased based on race so its no argument the system is 30x worst. Just like in Boxing, others turn a blind eye because its not effecting them as much but we can see they are slowly losing their rights too. The people that kept silent watching injustice of others are next.
I personally knew one of Hurricane Carter’s sparring partners. I asked him if Hurricane was guilty, and he said: “Hell yeah!”
The 1999 movie, “Hurricane,” was a joke. In the “feel good” propaganda film, Hurricane Carter is shown losing a decision to Joey Giardello because of “racist” judges. In reality, however, Giardello easily won the fight and filed a lawsuit against the film company for defamation of character. The lawsuit was eventually settled. Not only did Giardello pound Hurricane’s face in, he also scored a victory over the Hollywood scum who used that film to promote a narrative. The director for the film was Norman Jewison.
The Hollywood narrative seems like it’s been around far too long. Great story, Nordic!
Those poor people. Life is often so cruel. I believe in life after this. I hope brother and sister will find peace there. God bless.