Japan hangs 7 cultists in 1995 gas attack
Combo of file photos shows the Aum Shinrikyo cult leaders and followers who were executed yesterday for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. Hanged were Aum leader Shoko Asahara (right) and followers (clockwise, from top left) cult intelligence chief Yoshihiro Inoue, member Tomomitsu Niimi, chemist Masami Tsuchiya, senior member Kiyohide Hayakawa, cult officer Tomomasa Nakagawa and officer Seiichi Endo.
TOKYO (AP) — Doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara and six of his followers were executed yesterday for their roles in a deadly 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subways and other crimes, closing a chapter on one of Japan’s most shocking crimes in recent memory.
During the morning rush hour of March 20, 1995, members of the Asahara’s Aum Shinrikyo cult punctured plastic bags to release sarin nerve gas inside subway cars, killing 13 people and sickening more than 6,000.
Japan’s Justice Ministry announced the executions of Asahara, 63, and his followers. Two major Japanese newspapers issued extra editions about the executions and handed them out at train stations.
”This gave me a piece of mind,” Kiyoe Iwata, who lost her daughter in the subway attack, told Japanese broadcaster
NHK. “I have always been wondering why it had to be my daughter and why she had to be killed. Now, I can pay a visit to her grave and tell her of this.”
Asahara and five of the six executed were implicated in the subway attack. The cult also carried out other crimes that together with the subway attack killed 27 people in total. Six other followers remain on death row.
The others hanged yesterday included two scientists who led the production of the sarin gas and one of the men who carried out the actual attack on the subway. Japan’s justice minister, who approved the hangings on Tuesday, said she doesn’t take executions lightly, but felt they were justified in this case because of the unprecedentedly seriousness of the crimes.
”The fear, pain and sorrow of the victims, survivors and their families — because of the heinous cult crimes — must have been so severe, and that is beyond my imagination,” Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa told a news conference. She said the crime affected not only Japan but also sowed fear abroad.
Asahara, whose original name was Chizuo Matsumoto, founded Aum Shinrikyo, or Supreme Truth, in 1984. The cult attracted many young people, including graduates of top universities. Asahara hand-picked some as close aides.