Japan executes man convicted of murdering 9 people in 2017

ANKARA

Japanese authorities executed a man convicted of killing nine people in 2017, local media reported Friday.

The death sentence for Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed Japan's "Twitter killer," was finalized in 2021 after he withdrew an appeal filed by his lawyers, according to Kyodo News Agency.

He used Twitter to lure his victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts online, offering to help them die or watch them commit suicide.

Shiraishi was found guilty of murdering, dismembering and storing the bodies in his apartment near Tokyo.

According to the court ruling, Shiraishi lured his victims—eight women and one man aged between 15 and 26—to his home between late August and late October 2017, where he strangled and dismembered them.

He also sexually assaulted all the female victims and stole cash from them.