Japan executes man dubbed the “Twitter killer,” convicted serial killer who murdered and dismembered 9 people
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Japan executes by hanging ‘Twitter killer’ who murdered 9
Takahiro Shiraishi was sentenced to death for the 2017 murders of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city in Kanagawa near Tokyo. He was dubbed the ‘Twitter killer’ as he had contacted his victims via the social media platform, now known as X. The execution on Friday was the first in Japan since July 2022 of a man sentenced toDeath for a stabbing rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district in 2008. It was also the first time the death penalty was carried out since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’S government was inaugurated last October.
Takahiro Shiraishi was hanged on Friday after he was sentenced to death for the 2017 murders of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city in Kanagawa near Tokyo.
He was dubbed the “Twitter killer” as he had contacted his victims via the social media platform, now known as X.
Shiraishi admitted to committing the murders after reaching out and offering to help people – who were contemplating suicide – to die. He had stashed bits of the bodies of his nine victims in coolers around his small apartment, according to media reports.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi’s hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination of the case, taking into account the convict’s “extremely selfish” motive for crimes that “caused great shock and unrest to society”.
The execution on Friday was the first in Japan since July 2022 of a man sentenced to death for a stabbing rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district in 2008.
It was also the first time the death penalty was carried out since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government was inaugurated last October.
Last September, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who had spent the world’s longest time on death row. The court found he was wrongfully convicted of crimes committed nearly 60 years ago.
One of the highest-profile executions in Japan was carried out in 2018 of the guru Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system that killed 14 people and made thousands ill.
Capital punishment is carried out by hanging in Japan, and prisoners are notified of their execution just hours before it is carried out, which has long been decried by human rights groups for the stress it puts on death-row prisoners.
Japan and the United States are the only two members of the Group of Seven industrialised economies to retain the death penalty.
There is strong public support for the practice in Japan. A government survey in 2024 of 1,800 respondents found that 83 percent viewed the death penalty as “unavoidable”.
Japan executes man dubbed the “Twitter killer,” convicted serial killer who murdered and dismembered 9 people
Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women. He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans. He killed the three teenage girls and five women after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him, reports said.Japan and the United States are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and there is strong support for the practice among the Japanese public. The nation’s first enactment of the death penalty since 2022 was the first under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration, the Japan Times reported. In 2022, Tomohiro Kato hanged for an attack that killed seven people in 2008, when he rammed a truck into a crowd in Tokyo and went on a stabbing spree. The Aum Shinrikyo cult took place in 2018, when 12 members of the cult orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X.
He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them.
According to the BBC, his Twitter profile contained the words: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.”
He killed the three teenage girls and five women after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him, the Associated Press reported.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi’s crimes, carried out in 2017, included “robbery, rape, murder… destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse”.
“Nine victims were beaten and strangled, killed, robbed, and then mutilated with parts of their bodies concealed in boxes, and parts discarded in a garbage dump,” Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo.
Takahiro Shiraishi covers his face inside a police car in Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo November 2017 and released by Kyodo December 15, 2020. KYODO / REUTERS
Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a “house of horrors,” the BBC reported.
Shiraishi acted to satisfy “his own sexual and financial desires” and the murders “caused great shock and anxiety to society,” Suzuki said.
“After much careful consideration, I ordered the execution.”
Japan and the United States are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and there is strong support for the practice among the Japanese public, surveys show.
There was one execution in 2022, three in 2021, three in 2019 and 15 in 2018, the justice ministry told AFP.
Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020 for the murders of his nine victims, aged between 15 and 26.
After luring them to his small home near the capital, he stashed parts of their bodies around the apartment in coolers and toolboxes sprinkled with cat litter in a bid to hide the evidence.
His lawyers had argued Shiraishi should receive a prison sentence rather than be executed because his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts and so had consented to die.
But a judge dismissed that argument, calling Shiraishi’s crimes “cunning and cruel”, reports said at the time.
“The dignity of the victims was trampled upon,” the judge had said, adding that Shiraishi had preyed upon people who were “mentally fragile”.
The grisly murders were discovered in autumn 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to kill herself.
Her brother gained access to her Twitter account and eventually led police to Shiraishi’s residence, where investigators found dismembered body parts.
Executions in Japan
Executions are always done by hanging in Japan, where around 100 death row prisoners are waiting for their sentences to be carried out.
Nearly half are seeking a retrial, Suzuki said Friday.
Executions are carried out in secrecy, where prisoners are not even informed of their fate until the morning of their hanging, according to the Associated Press.
Japanese law stipulates that executions must be carried out within six months of a verdict after appeals are exhausted.
In reality, however, most inmates are left on tenterhooks in solitary confinement for years, and sometimes decades.
There is widespread criticism of the system and the government’s lack of transparency over the practice.
Shiraishi’s execution was the first under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration, the Japan Times reported.
In 2022, Tomohiro Kato was hanged for an attack that killed seven people in 2008, when he rammed a rented two-ton truck into a crowd in Tokyo and went on a stabbing spree.
The high-profile executions of the guru Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult took place in 2018.
Aum Shinrikyo orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system, killing 14 people and sickening thousands more.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.
Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ convicted of murdering 9 people in 2017
Takahiro Shiraishi was found guilty of murdering, dismembering and storing the bodies in his apartment near Tokyo. He used Twitter to lure his victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts online, offering to help them die or watch them commit suicide.
The death sentence for Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed Japan’s “Twitter killer,” was finalised in 2021 after he withdrew an appeal filed by his lawyers, according to Kyodo News Agency.
He used Twitter to lure his victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts online, offering to help them die or watch them commit suicide.
Related Japan’s ‘Twitter killer’ pleads guilty to murdering nine people
Shiraishi was found guilty of murdering, dismembering and storing the bodies in his apartment near Tokyo.
According to the court ruling, Shiraishi lured his victims—eight women and one man aged between 15 and 26—to his home between late August and late October 2017, where he strangled and dismembered them.
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He also sexually assaulted all the female victims and stole cash from them.
Japan Executes Man Convicted of Murder For Killing And Dismembering 9 People In His Apartment
Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer,’ was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killings in 2017 of the nine victims. Most of the victims had posted suicidal thoughts on social media. He was also convicted of sexually abusing female victims.
The execution was carried out as calls grow to abolish capital punishment in Japan since the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year. Shiraishi was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House in high secrecy with nothing disclosed until the execution was done.
Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment. Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the eight women, including teenagers, after raping them, and also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him.
Japan’s suicide rate ranks among the world’s highest. Following a recent decline, the number has climbed back this year as people were hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan’s crime rate is relatively low, but it has seen some high-profile mass killings in recent years.
Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ who murdered nine
Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women. He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them. The grisly murders were discovered in autumn 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to kill herself. Japan and the U.S. are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and there is strong support for the practice among the Japanese public. The nation’s first enactment of the death penalty since 2022 was carried out in 2018. of the 100 death row prisoners are waiting for their sentences to be carried out, nearly half are seeking a retrial, the justice minister said Friday.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X.
He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them.
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Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi’s crimes, carried out in 2017, included “robbery, rape, murder… destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse”.
“Nine victims were beaten and strangled, killed, robbed, and then mutilated with parts of their bodies concealed in boxes, and parts discarded in a garbage dump,” Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo.
Shiraishi acted to satisfy “his own sexual and financial desires” and the murders “caused great shock and anxiety to society”, Suzuki said.
“After much careful consideration, I ordered the execution.”
Japan and the United States are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and there is strong support for the practice among the Japanese public, surveys show.
There was one execution in 2022, three in 2021, three in 2019 and 15 in 2018, the justice ministry told AFP.
Cat litter
Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020 for the murders of his nine victims, aged between 15 and 26.
After luring them to his small home near the capital, he stashed parts of their bodies around the apartment in coolers and toolboxes sprinkled with cat litter in a bid to hide the evidence.
His lawyers had argued Shiraishi should receive a prison sentence rather than be executed because his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts and so had consented to die.
But a judge dismissed that argument, calling Shiraishi’s crimes “cunning and cruel”, reports said at the time.
“The dignity of the victims was trampled upon,” the judge had said, adding that Shiraishi had preyed upon people who were “mentally fragile”.
The grisly murders were discovered in autumn 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to kill herself.
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Her brother gained access to her Twitter account and eventually led police to Shiraishi’s residence, where investigators found dismembered body parts.
Death row prisoners
Executions are always done by hanging in Japan, where around 100 death row prisoners are waiting for their sentences to be carried out.
Nearly half are seeking a retrial, Suzuki said Friday.
Japanese law stipulates that executions must be carried out within six months of a verdict after appeals are exhausted.
In reality, however, most inmates are left on tenterhooks in solitary confinement for years, and sometimes decades.
There is widespread criticism of the system and the government’s lack of transparency over the practice.
In 2022, Tomohiro Kato was hanged for an attack that killed seven people in 2008, when he rammed a rented two-tonne truck into a crowd in Tokyo and went on a stabbing spree.
The high-profile executions of the guru Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult took place in 2018.
ALSO READ | Man killed execution style near Ballito, KZN
Aum Shinrikyo orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system, killing 14 people and sickening thousands more.