Japan Carries Out Execution of ‘Twitter Murderer’ Convicted of Nine Counts of Homicide | Recent Developments in Capital Punishment

Takahiro Shiraishi, a man convicted of murders and dismemberment, was executed in Japan, marking the first capital punishment in nearly three years

Japan has executed Takahiro Shiraishi for the murders and dismemberment of nine individuals he met through social media. This marks the first use of capital punishment in the country since 2022.

Shiraishi was hanged after being sentenced to death for the murders of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city, Kanagawa in 2017. He was known as the “Twitter killer” as he contacted his victims through the social media platform, now known as X.
He admitted to the murders after reaching out and offering to help people contemplating suicide to die. He stored the victims’ body parts in coolers around his small apartment, as reported by the media.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki authorized Shiraishi’s execution after examining the case and considering the convict’s “extremely selfish” motives for crimes that caused societal shock and unrest.

The execution of Shiraishi was the first in Japan since July 2022 and also the first under the current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government.
Last September, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who held the record for the longest time on death row, after finding he was wrongfully convicted of crimes committed nearly 60 years ago.
One of the highest-profile executions in Japan was in 2018 of Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo’s subway system.
Capital punishment in Japan is carried out by hanging, with prisoners notified of their execution just hours before it is carried out, a practice criticized by human rights groups for the stress it puts on death-row prisoners.
Japan and the United States are the only members of the Group of Seven industrialized economies to retain the death penalty, with strong public support for the practice in Japan.