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Japan has executed a man convicted of murdering and dismembering nine people, in the country's first use of the death penalty since 2022.
Takahiro Shiraishi — dubbed the "Twitter killer" — strangled eight women and one man to death in 2017 after contacting them on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
The victims — aged between 15 and 26 — had posted about having suicidal thoughts. Shiraishi told them he could aid them in their plans or even die alongside them.
He was also convicted of sexually abusing female victims.
Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020.
No prior notice ahead of execution
The hanging took place on Friday at the Tokyo Detention House under strict secrecy. No information was disclosed until the execution was completed.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi's hanging, said he made the decision after careful consideration, taking into account the convict's "extremely selfish" motive for crimes that "caused great shock and unrest to society."
Japan and the death penalty
Shiraishi’s execution comes amid growing calls to abolish capital punishment in Japan, a country where public support for the practice remains overwhelmingly strong.
Japan and the United States are the only two major industrialized democracies that still have the death penalty.
Capital punishment is carried out by hanging in Japan, with prisoners being notified of their execution hours before it is carried out.
Human rights groups criticize the process, saying that it puts stress on death-row prisoners.
There are some 100 death row prisoners in the country waiting for their sentence to be carried out.
Nearly half of them are seeking retrial, Suzuki told the media on Friday.
Japan’s last execution took place in July 2022, when a man convicted of a 2008 stabbing rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara district was hanged.
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*Editor's note: If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/
Edited by: Kieran Burke
