Seven people responsible for the Tokyo subway attack executed
In 1995 they killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000 in a chemical attack. Among the executed is cult leader Shoko Asahara. Others are still waiting on death row. The cult is a mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism and apocalyptic Christianity.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Seven leaders of the Aum Shinrikyo (Aum supreme truth) doomsday cult were hanged this morning in connection with Japan’s worse terror incident.
On 20 March 1995, cult members left punctured bags filled with a liquid nerve agent on five Tokyo subway carriages.
Witnesses noticed the leaking packages and soon afterwards felt stinging fumes hitting their eyes.
The toxin struck victims down in a matter of seconds, leaving them choking and vomiting, some blinded and paralysed. Thirteen people died and more than 6,200 others were injured.
Cult leader Shoko Asahara (picture 2) was one of those taken to the gallows today.
Asahara and his followers were also accused of several other murders and an earlier sarin gas attack in 1994 which killed eight and left 600 injured.
In all, 13 people were on death row. Six are now left waiting for their turn.
The executions had been postponed until all those convicted had completed their final appeals.
The cult was formed in 1984 as a spiritual group and yoga school, mixing Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. Later, it added elements of Christian apocalyptic prophecies.
Its leader Shoko Asahara – whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto - called himself both Christ and the "first enlightened" since Buddha.
Aum Shinrikyo gained official status as a religious organisation in Japan in 1989 and picked up a sizeable global following. At its peak, it had tens of thousands of followers worldwide.
The group gradually morphed into a paranoid doomsday cult and was eventually declared a terrorist organisation is several countries.
It is still legal in Japan, although designated as "dangerous religion" subject to surveillance. It still has thousands of followers.
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26/07/2018 11:03
