Japanese man granted retrial after 45 years on death row

Iwao Hakamada at a press conference in 2019. Photograph: 195122+0900/AP

A court in Japan has granted a retrial to a man – thought to be the world’s longest-serving death row inmate – who was sentenced to hang for the murders of a family of four almost six decades ago.

The Tokyo high court ruled on Monday that Iwao Hakamada, 87, should be tried again for the crimes in a decision campaigners said was a “step towards justice”.