Japan Executes “Twitter Killer” For Murdering 9 Victims In First Execution Since 2022

A man who contacted his victims on social media before murdering and dismembering them has been executed in Japan.

It is the country’s first capital punishment in nearly three years.

Takahiro Shiraishi, who became known as the “Twitter killer”, was hanged on Friday after being sentenced to death in 2020 for the 2017 killings.

Shiraishi raped and strangled eight female victims, aged between 15 and 26, after speaking to them on Twitter and luring them to his home.

Most of his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts online, and Shiraishi contacted them to offer to help them die, even suggesting he would die with them, investigators said.

He raped his victims before killing them and dismembering their bodies.

The 34-year-old also murdered the boyfriend of one of his victims in an effort to keep him quiet.

In 2017, a missing persons enquiry led police to Shiraishi’s apartment near Tokyo and officers discovered the body parts of the victims hidden in cold-storage cases.

While Shiraishi’s lawyer argued the victims had consented to die after expressing suicidal thoughts, a judge said he had preyed upon "mentally fragile" people and that his crimes were "cunning and cruel.”

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said he signed the execution order earlier this week but did not watch the capital punishment.

"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 said.

“The case caused the extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shockwave and unease to the society,” Suzuki added, saying that Shiraishi acted "for the genuinely selfish reason of satisfying his own sexual and financial desires.”

In Japan, executions are always done by hanging and there are currently 105 inmates on death row.

Last September, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, Hakamada Iwao, was acquitted.

He had spent 56 years on death row for the murders of his boss, wife, and two children in 1966 – a crime he did not commit.

A retrial found that police had falsified and planted evidence against him.

The case sparked renewed calls to ban capital punishment, but there is still strong public support across the country for it.

Shiraishi's execution is the first under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who came to power in October 2024, and the first since July 2022.

According to Amnesty International, executions in Japan are shrouded in secrecy, with prisoners typically being given just a few hours' notice.

Their families are usually only notified about the execution after it has taken place.

“The execution of Takahiro Shiraishi – the first in Japan in nearly three years – is the latest callous attack on the right to life in Japan and a major setback for the country’s human rights record,” Chiara Sangiorgio, Death Penalty Advisor at Amnesty International, said.

“Last year’s acquittal of Hakamada Iwao, formerly the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, laid bare the unfairness of Japan’s criminal justice system and use of the death penalty and was an ideal opportunity to change course.

“But instead of moving to reform and ensure full protection of human rights, the government has chosen to resume executions. This is a significant setback to efforts to end the use of the death penalty in Japan.”

Suzuki has defended the country’s stance on capital punishment, saying it would not be appropriate to abolish it while violent crimes are still being committed.