M39

Morotai Trial M39 was an Australian war crimes trial conducted on Morotai on 22 February 1946. The case concerned the murder of four Allied prisoners of war, Wadham, Morrison, Simpson and Solomon, at Tantui Prisoner of War Camp on Ambon during the Second World War. Six members of the Japanese military were charged in connection with the killings.

The court found all six accused guilty. Three were sentenced to death by shooting and three received terms of imprisonment ranging from twelve to fifteen years. One of the officers convicted, Lieutenant Kawahara Kiyomune, was identified as commanding the execution party. Following the trial, the Judge Advocate General considered a petition against the findings and recommended that the convictions should not be confirmed. This page summarises the trial, the accused, the sentences imposed and the surviving archival records, including the Judge Advocate General's report.