Japan on Thursday executed six more members of the cult behind the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. The group’s leader Shoko Asahara, along with seven others, was hanged earlier this month. Japan’s Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Thursday confirmed that all 13 members of the cult Aum Shinrikyo have now been executed, reported Reuters.
The Sarin attack was Japan’s worst incident of terror, killing 13 and leaving thousands injured on March 20, 1995. Sarin, a nerve gas, is one of the most lethal and toxic chemicals. Members of the cult simultaneously released it in liquid form at five points through the subway network during rush hour. Within moments, many commuters started to struggle with breathing, others foamed at the mouth and bled from the nose.
Minister Kamikawa said she had ordered the executions after extremely careful considerations. “It was an unprecedented level of extreme and serious crimes which must not happen again and terrified not only people in Japan but also foreign countries and shook the society,” she said at a press conference in Tokyo. “The pain and anguish of the people who were killed and their families as well as of the survivors left with disabilities was unimaginable,” said Kamikawa.
Aum members have also been convicted of another sarin attack in Matsumoto town in 1994, which killed eight and left 600 injured, along with the murder of an anti-cult lawyer and his family, reported BBC. The 13 members spent years in prison on death row as their execution was opposed by a few activists. But survivors and their kin said it would be hard to just move on.
Shizue Takahashi, whose husband was killed in the attack, told AFP that the case was closed from the legal point of view. “But the damage done to the victims continues even after the executions,” she said. “I find it very hard.” Another man injured in the attack said that on hearing of the last exections, he felt “the world had become slightly brighter”.
Aum Shinrikyo, which means “supreme truth”, started in 1984 as a spiritual group with Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. Leader Asahara soon announced himself as both Jesus Christ and the first “enlightened one” after Gautam Buddha. It soon morphed into a doomsday cult, believing that the world was about to end in a war and only its members would survive. After the 1995 attack, the cult renamed itself Aleph or Hikari no Wa. It is designated as a terrorist organisation in many countries, including the United States, Russia and Canada.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!