6.52K Hamilton Nolan 03/27/14 08:42AM Filed to: death penalty death penalty death row japan exonerations Iwao Hakamada justice After 48 years on Japan's death row, Iwao Hakamada has been freed. A court "concluded investigators had likely fabricated evidence" in his trial. This month, both America's and the world's longest-serving death row inmates have been exonerated.