Several ex-members of Japan doomsday cult including leader executed: media

[Eugene]

Last edited Thu Jul 5, 2018, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - The former leader of Aum and several other members of the Japanese doomsday cult that carried out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 were executed on Friday, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Chizuo Matsumoto, who went by the name Shoko Asahara, was the first of 13 scheduled to be hanged for the attacks, which killed 13 dead and injured more than 6,000, NHK said. Japanese media broke into regular programming to report the news.

The Aum Shinri Kyo, or Aum Supreme Truth cult, which mixed Buddhist and Hindu meditation with apocalyptic teachings, staged a series of crimes including simultaneous sarin gas attacks on Tokyo subway trains during rush hour in March 1995. Sarin, a nerve gas, was originally developed by the Nazis.

The images of bodies, many in business suits, sprawled across platforms stunned Japan and shattered its myth of public safety.

-snip-

WORLD NEWS JULY 5, 2018 / 8:10 PM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO
Elaine Lies, Chang-Ran Kim
3 MIN READ



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-crime-sarin/ex-leader-of-japan-doomsday-cult-involved-in-1995-sarin-subway-attack-executed-nhk-idUSKBN1JW009

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EDIT: Article updated at link.

Original headline: Ex-leader of Japan doomsday cult involved in 1995 sarin subway attack executed: NHK

[47of74]

1. Didn't realize Japan still had capital punishment.

[MicaelS]

5. Yep they sure do.

They have executed people on Christmas Day, while the rest of the world is occupied by Christmas.

It's funny, anti-DP advocates complain about the US and compare us to regimes that don't respect human rights, but ignore or do not know about Japan.

[Voltaire2]

6. They don't all ignore Japan.

Japan executed 3 people in 2016, we executed 20.

[Demonaut]

7. we have a pop of 325 million and they have a pop of 127 million, the ratio is

still significant

[AZ8theist]

2. sayonara

One less scumbag on the planet. Good riddance.

[dalton99a]

3. Japan's death chambers:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/death-penalty-execution-japan-hanging--10797256
Japan's death chambers: Inside the secretive world where prisoners are executed with brutal efficiency

[DonCoquixote]

4. we have many religious figures in the US

who are as deadly as this person was, and who plan to kill even more.

[ansible]

8. Surprised it even took that long, that was 23 years ago

I still remember the shock towards it back then, Japan used to have such a stellar reputation for being a powerful economy with a peaceful society the US could never hope to come close to, then the attacks happen and the myth is shattered forever.

[moondust]

9. "10,000 members in Japan and 30,000 in Russia."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japans-doomsday-cult-leader-behind-gas-attack-is-executed/2018/07/05/2bd6c33a-80b3-11e8-a63f-7b5d2aba7ac5_story.html