Japan hangs 'Twitter killer,' who killed and dismembered 9 people
What's the story
Japan has executed Takahiro Shiraishi, a man who murdered nine people, aged between 15 and 26, after contacting them on social media. This is the first execution in nearly three years in the country. Shiraishi was sentenced to death for strangling and dismembering eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama City, Kanagawa, near Tokyo. He was infamously known as the "Twitter killer" for using the social media platform to lure his victims.
Arrest
Shiraishi was arrested in October 2017
Shiraishi was arrested in October 2017 after police searched his home to investigate the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media, including X. During the search, three cooler boxes and five containers were discovered in Shiraishi's room, each containing human heads and bones with the flesh scraped off, according to CNN affiliate TV Asahi. Shiraishi invited them to his flat, using a handle that loosely translates as "hangman," and promised to help them die.
Execution approval
Justice Minister authorized Shiraishi's execution
In December 2020, he was found guilty of murdering, raping, and dismembering nine people and storing their bodies in his apartment. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki authorized Shiraishi's execution, saying he took the decision after careful examination of the convict's "extremely selfish" motives. The crimes committed by Shiraishi "caused great shock and unrest to society," Suzuki added. This execution follows the July 2022 execution of a man for a stabbing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in 2008.
Survey
Opposition to death penalty in Japan
A government survey on Japan's death penalty system found that 83.1 percent of Japanese favor it, up by 2.3 percentage points from 2020. The same survey also showed that those opposed totaled 16.5 percent. However, as The Asahi Shimbun reports, critics have long pointed out that the results should not be taken at face value, as the polls are taken with the public largely kept in the dark about the treatment of death row inmates and other details.
New administration
First execution since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government took office
Shiraishi's execution is also the first since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government took office last October. In September last year, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who had spent nearly 60 years on death row after being wrongfully convicted for crimes committed decades ago. Japan employs hanging as its method of capital punishment, and prisoners are only notified hours before their execution, a practice criticized by human rights groups due to the stress it places on death-row inmates.
Policy defense
Execution of Shiraishi sparks debate over capital punishment in Japan
Defending the death penalty, Suzuki said, "It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed." He also revealed that there are currently 105 inmates on death row in Japan. In India, there are currently 539 inmates on death row. The most recent executions took place in March 2020, when four of the perpetrators of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder were executed.