Japan executed Takahiro Shiraishi on Friday, marking its first use of capital punishment in nearly three years. Shiraishi, who gained notoriety as the “Twitter killer,” killed nine people in 2017 after luring them via social media. His victims included eight women and one man, whom he strangled and dismembered in his Zama city apartment.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki approved the execution after thorough consideration of the “extremely selfish” motives behind Shiraishi’s crimes, which he said shocked and unsettled society. The last execution before this was in July 2022, which involved a man responsible for a stabbing spree in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in 2008.
This execution occurred under the new government led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, inaugurated last October. It also follows the recent acquittal of Iwao Hakamada, who had spent nearly six decades on death row due to a wrongful conviction.
In Japan, capital punishment is executed by hanging, and inmates are typically informed of their pending execution only hours beforehand, a practice criticized by human rights advocates for the psychological strain it imposes on death-row prisoners. Minister Suzuki defended the continuation of the death penalty, stating, “It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed.” Currently, there are 105 individuals on death row in Japan.
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