JAPAN EXECUTES SERIAL KILLER

Japan has executed a man dubbed the “Twitter killer”.

Takahiro Shiraishi murdered nine people in 2017. The 30-year-old would “meet” his victims on Twitter, now known as X, before inviting them to his apartment.

Once at his apartment, he strangled his victims and dismembered them.

The country was in shock after it was revealed that Shiraishi targeted people who wanted to commit suicide. It also led to the public questioning X’s terms and conditions relating to the discussion of suicide on the social media platform.

Since the trial, X has amended its rules to state that users aren’t allowed to “promote or encourage suicide or self-harm”.

Most of Shiraishi’s victims were young women between the ages of 15 and 26. The dismembered parts of nine bodies were discovered.

During the trial, prosecutors wanted the death penalty for Shiraishi, but his lawyers argued that it should be murder with consent because his victims had given him their permission to be killed.

His lawyers also wanted the court to assess his mental health state, but Shiraishi later went against his own lawyer’s version and said he killed all his victims without their consent.

This was the first time since 2022 that Japan has enacted capital punishment.

Image credit: BBC