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WORLD NEWS Saturday 7 July 2018

Cult leader executed for Japan sarin attacks still a mystery

By MARI YAMAGUCHI a doctor also executed
TOKYO (AP) — The execu- Friday, and several other
tion of Japanese dooms- cultists broke into the Saka-
day cult leader Shoko Asa- motos' apartment late at
hara leaves unanswered night, strangled them to
questions about Aum Shin- death and buried them in
rikyo, which carried out the mountains.
the 1995 sarin gas attack Cult activities escalated
on the Tokyo subway that after the defeat of Aum
killed 13 people and sick- members in the 1990 par-
ened 6,000. liamentary election. During
Japanese government their bizarre election cam-
spokesman Yoshihide Suga paign, Asahara and his top
confirmed that Asahara disciples sang and danced
was executed Friday. The to the guru's songs.
authorities said six other cult In June 1994, the cult
members were hanged. spread sarin gas in Matsu-
Born Chizuo Matsumoto moto in central Japan, kill-
in 1955, Asahara founded ing eight people and injur-
Aum Shinrikyo, or Supreme ing more than 140 others,
Truth, in the mid-1980s. It at- in an attack targeting resi-
tracted young people disil- dents who were protesting
lusioned with the modern the cult's presence in their
materialistic way of life. neighborhood and court
Half-blind, with a shaggy officials handling their legal
hair and beard, Asahara disputes. Nakagawa and
was the key figure in the key members produced sa-
stunningly random and le- In this undated file photo, cult guru Shoko Asahara, of Aum Shinrikyo walks with Yoshihiro Inoue, rin at a cult compound and
thal attack targeting Tokyo then a close aid, in Tokyo. sprayed it from a van, in
commuters. Associated Press what was later regarded as
He used a mixture of Hindu- an experiment for the sub-
ism, Buddhism, Christianity ventional weapons in and In a rare interview in 2006, Asahara more than 400 sequent subway gassing.
and yoga to draw follow- outside Japan, while the two of Asahara's four times, citing the absence Under intensifying scrutiny
ers. They took part in bizarre scientists he had recruited daughters told The Asso- of a reaction from Asahara. from the government, the
rituals, such as drinking his developed and manufac- ciated Press that never in Yasuda sought medical cult plotted the larger sarin
bathwater and wearing tured sarin, VX and other dozens of visits to him in treatment for Asahara and attack on the subways in
electrical caps they be- deadly chemical and bio- prison had they had a real said in April 2018 that he Tokyo on March 20, 1995.
lieved synchronized their logical weapons. conversation. had appealed for his re- Asahara guided the at-
brain waves with Asahara's. During his trial, Asahara of- Asahara just sat and at lease. tack, according to testimo-
Asahara chose doctors, ten used diapers and sat times fidgeted or grunted. The reasons behind the sa- ny by his right-hand man,
lawyers and scientists from on a cushion intended to The daughters' repeated rin gas attack remain an Yoshihiro Inoue, who also
Japan's top universities as make his incontinence in- petitions for retrials were enigma. was executed Friday. Inoue
his top aides, making them conspicuous. He stopped refused. They said his con- Cult members have said headed Aum's intelligence
ministers of his pseudo-gov- communicating with his dition might have wors- they believed Asahara's unit and was one of the
ernment of the Aum em- children and defense ened since the last being prophesy that an apoca- few cult members who lat-
pire. They worshipped him team. allowed to see him in 2008. lypse was coming and they er turned against Asahara.
and carried out his orders. A court-appointed psychi- Yoshihiro Yasuda, Asahara's alone would survive it. The five cultists who carried
The group used donations atrist suggested he might main lawyer during his trial, Even before the attack, bags of sarin onto the trains
from followers and earn- be faking insanity to avoid said the last time he was in 1989, lawyer Tsutsumi targeted three subway lines
ings from yoga classes punishment. The initial allowed to see Asahara at Sakamoto, who opposed converging at Kasumigas-
and health food business- death sentence in 2004 be- the detention center was in the cult, his wife and baby eki, Japan's government
es to amass cash to buy came final after his defense 2006. After that, the Tokyo boy were murdered by cult and political center similar
land and equipment. They team could not file an ap- detention center rejected members. equivalent to Washington's
made and bought con- peal citing his mental state. requests for meetings with Tomomasa Nakagawa, Capitol Hill.q