Japan has executed the "Twitter Killer" who was guilty of murdering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media.
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Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer,” was sentenced to death in 2020 for the 2017 killings of the nine victims, whom he also dismembered in his apartment near Tokyo, as reported by Sky News.
His execution was the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years, carried out as calls grow to abolish the measure in Japan since the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate, Iwao Hakamada, last year.
Shiraishi’s chilling case shocked the nation and reignited debate about Japan’s death penalty.
Eight of Shiraishi’s victims were women, including teenagers, who he killed after raping them.
He also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him. Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment, per AP.
Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes, under the name “Hanging Pro.”
On Twitter, his profile featured a manga cartoon drawing showing a man whose neck and wrist are scarred, wearing a rope around his neck. The profile bio described his expertise in hanging and his Twitter handle was “@hangingpro.”
“I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM me anytime,” it read. “There must be many people in society who are suffering after attempting suicides, though their cases are not reported in the news. I want to help such people.”
He also worked to ensure his victims severed ties with friends and family members in advance of meeting them. “It is not good to tell friends, family members and social networking sites that you are going to die before committing suicide,” he wrote in one post.
Shiraishi styled himself as a valiant helper, providing a way out for those with suicidal thoughts or those who had attempted suicide and failed.
In reality, he killed the three teenage girls and five women after r*ping them, and murdered the boyfriend of one of the women to keep him quiet.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi’s hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict’s “extremely selfish” motive for crimes that “caused great shock and unrest to society,” per the Daily Mail.
“It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,” Mr Suzuki said. He added, “I believe it is not appropriate to abolish execution,” noting that there is growing concern about serious crime in Japan.
Shiraishi was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House in secrecy, with nothing disclosed until the execution was done.
“The case caused extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shockwave and unease to society,” Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki told an emergency news conference.
He confirmed he signed the execution earlier in the week but did not witness Shiraishi’s hanging.
Executions in Japan are carried out in secrecy, where prisoners are not even informed of their fate until the morning of their hanging.
Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, but disclosures remain limited.
Japan and the US are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations (G7) that retain capital punishment.
The execution takes place on a bright red square in front of a viewing platform separated by a large glass window and bright blue curtains.
Prisoners pass by a small gold statue of Kannon, a Buddhist bodhisattva associated with compassion, as they enter.
Witnesses have described the horror of watching officials pull levers to drop the prisoner, blindfolded and hooded, through the floor of the execution room, where medics confirm the death and wipe the lifeless body down.
Rare notes from inside confirm prisoners are often told only an hour before they are due to take the stage, a practice the UN Committee against Torture claims adds additional stress for families.
Japan now has 105 people on death row, including 49 seeking retrials, according to Suzuki.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.