Tokyo: Japan’s Ministry of Justice announced on Friday the execution of Takahiro Shiraishi, infamously known as the ‘Twitter Killer’, who was convicted for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of nine people in 2017 near Tokyo.
Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing nine victims, most of whom had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media platforms. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting several female victims.
Authorities discovered the bodies of eight teenage girls and women, along with one man related to a cold storage business, in Shiraishi’s apartment. He was arrested at the end of 2017.
Investigations revealed that Shiraishi contacted victims via Twitter, offering to assist with their suicidal intentions. After sexually assaulting three teenage girls and five women, he murdered them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the victims to silence him.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said in a press conference that this case had serious societal impact and caused widespread shock and unrest. Suzuki confirmed he had signed the execution order earlier in the week, though he had not witnessed the hanging.
This execution comes amid rising calls within Japan for abolition or greater transparency of the death penalty, following the acquittal last year of Iwao Hakamada, who spent the longest time on death row globally.
Despite some growing opposition, recent government surveys indicate that a significant majority of the Japanese public continue to support capital punishment. Suzuki justified its necessity, citing increasing concerns over serious crimes.
The execution was carried out secretly at Tokyo Detention House. In Japan, executions are kept confidential, and inmates are typically not informed of their execution date until the morning it is to be carried out.
Currently, about 105 inmates remain on death row in Japan, with 49 seeking retrials. Since 2007, Japan has begun to release limited information about executed inmates and their crimes, though disclosures remain restricted.
