Tokyo subway gas attack, and arrest[edit]

Main article: Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway

On March 20, 1995, members of Aum Shinrikyo attacked the Tokyo subway with the nerve
gas sarin. Thirteen people died and thousands more suffered ill effects. After finding
sufficient evidence, authorities accused Aum Shinrikyo of complicity in the attack, as well
as in a number of smaller-scale incidents. Dozens of disciples were arrested, Aum's
facilities were raided, and the court issued an order for Shoko Asahara's arrest.
On May 16, 1995, the police corps investigated the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo.
Asahara was discovered in a very small, isolated room in one of the facilities. Wary of
possible Aum military power, the First Airborne Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense
Force was stationed nearby to support the police if needed.[18][19]
Many small glass bottles containing short curly hair were discovered in Asahara's private
room. The bottles were labeled with the names of his female followers.[20] Both marriage
and sexual relations between pupils were forbidden by Asahara, but Aum believed that the
founder was exempt from this rule and was permitted to have sexual relationships with
many women for the integrity of initiation.[1]
Asahara did not have a private residence, and therefore he held his relationships in official
headquarters. When the woman was a virgin, she was considered to be a dakini. One such
dakini took part in the sarin gas attack under Asahara's instruction.[20]

Accusations and trial[edit]

Shoko Asahara faced 27 counts of murder in 13 separate indictments. The prosecution
argued that Asahara gave orders to attack the Tokyo Subway in order to "overthrow the
government and install himself in the position of Emperor of Japan". Several years later, the
prosecution forwarded an additional theory that the attacks were ordered to divert police
attention away from Aum. The prosecution also accused Asahara of masterminding
the Matsumoto incident and the Sakamoto family murder. According to Asahara's defense
team, a group of senior followers initiated the atrocities and kept them a secret from
Asahara.
During the trials, some of the disciples testified against Asahara, and he was found guilty
on 13 of 17 charges, including the Sakamoto family murder; four charges were dropped.
On February 27, 2004, he was sentenced to death by hanging.
The trial was called the "trial of the century" by the Japanese media. During the trials,
Asahara resigned from his position as the Aum Shinrikyo representative in an attempt to
prevent the group from being forcefully dissolved by the state.
The defense appealed Asahara's sentencing on the grounds that he was mentally unfit,
and psychiatric examinations were undertaken. During the examinations, Asahara never
spoke. However, he communicated with the staff at his detention facility, which convinced
the examiner that Asahara was maintaining his silence out of free will. Because his lawyers
never submitted the statement of reason for appeal, the Tokyo High Court decided on
March 27, 2006 not to grant them leave to appeal. This decision was upheld by
the Supreme Court of Japanon September 15, 2006. Two re-trial appeals were declined by
the appellate court.
In June 2012, Asahara's execution was postponed due to arrests of several fugitive Aum
Shinrikyo members.[2]

See also[edit]
Japan portal
 Religion portal

Biography portal

Aum Shinrikyo
Capital punishment in Japan
Doomsday cult
List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

Further reading[edit]
Asahara, Shoko (1988). Supreme Initiation: An Empirical Spiritual Science for the
Supreme Truth. AUM USA Inc. ISBN 0-945638-00-0.highlights the main stages of
Yogic and Buddhist practice, comparing Yoga-sutra system by Patanjali and the
Eightfold Noble Path from Buddhist tradition.
Asahara, Shoko (1993). Life and Death. Shizuoka: Aum. ISBN 4-87142-072-8.
focuses on the process of Kundalini-Yoga, one of the stages in Aum's practice.
Beckford, James A. (1998). "A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path to
Violence". Nova Religio. 1 (2): 3056. doi:10.1525/nr.1998.1.2.305.
Berson, Tom (September 22, 1997). "Are We Ready for Chemical Warfare?". News
World Communications.
Brackett, D. W. (1996). Holy Terror: Armageddon in Tokyo. Weatherhill. ISBN 978-0-
8348-0353-4.
Kiyoyasu, Kitabatake (1 September 1995). "Aum Shinrikyo: Society Begets an
Aberration". Japan Quarterly. 42 (4): 376. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
Murakami, Haruki; Birnbaum, Alfred; Gabriel, Philip (2001). Underground (1st ed.).
New York: Vintage International. ISBN 978-0-375-72580-7.

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Japanese Wikipedia section on "religious lovers of Asahara".
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "Execution of Aum founder likely postponed". asiaone News. The Yomiuri
Shimbun/Asia News Network. June 5, 2012.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Atkins, Stephen E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists
and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7.
4. Jump up^ Dharmananda, Subhuti. "Japanese Acupuncture: Blind Acupuncturists, Insertion
Tubes, Abdominal Diagnosis, and the Benten Goddess". Institute for Traditional Medicine.
Retrieved 2009-07-23.
5. Jump up^ Japanese Wikipedia section on "Asahara's children".
6. Jump up^ "Asahara daughter speaks out on 95 sarin attack". The Japan Times. March 19,
2015.
7. Jump up^ "Aum Founders Daughter Speaks 20 Years After Tokyo Sarin Attack". The Wall
Street Journal. March 19, 2015.
8. Jump up^ "Tokyo subway attacks: Japan still baffled 20 years on". Borneo Bulletin. March
20, 2015.
9. Jump up^ Drozdek, Boris; John P. Wilson (2007). Voices of Trauma: Treating
Psychological Trauma Across Cultures. Springer Science. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-387-69794-9.
10. Jump up^ Mtraux, Daniel Alfred (1999). Aum Shinrikyo and Japanese youth. University
Press of America. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7618-1417-7.
11. Jump up^ Lewis, James R.; Jesper Aagaard Petersen (2005). Controversial New
Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-19-515683-6.
12. Jump up^ Snow, Robert L. (2003). Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True
Believers. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-275-98052-8.
 13. Jump up^ Partridge, Christopher Hugh (2006). The Re-Enchantment of the West:
Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture. Continuum
International Publishing Group. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-567-04133-3.
14. Jump up^ Griffith, Lee (2004). The War on Terrorism and the Terror of God. William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8028-2860-6.
15. Jump up^ Goldwag, Arthur (2009). Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight
Scoop on Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, the New World
Order, and Many, Many More. Random House. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-307-39067-7.
16. Jump up^ Lifton, Robert Jay (1 August 2000). Destroying the World to Save It: Aum
Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New York:
Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8050-6511-4.
17. Jump up^ Senate Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
(October 31, 1995). "III. Background of the Cult". Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo.
18. ^ Jump up to:a b c Huffpost Society (May 12, 2015). "What is the "universality"? we should
have learned from Aum Shinrikyo case after 20 years". The Huffington Post (in Japanese).
19. Jump up^ Koshimizu, Richard. "TOTAL INDEX PAGE of Aum Shinrikyo case" (in
Japanese).
20. ^ Jump up to:a b Japanese Wikipedia section on "sexual taste of Asahara".

External links[edit]
Aleph: the organization's official website, with an English section
A Japan Times article about two documentary films on Aleph.
[1] BBC link & photos
IMDB: Documentary films A (1998) and A2 (2001) by Tatsuya Mori

[hide]

Aum Shinrikyo

Shoko Asahara

Fumihiro Joyu

dership Ikuo Hayashi

Hideo Murai

Tomomitsu Niimi

Yoshinori Kobayashi
riticism
U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Sakamoto family murder (1989)

ncidents Matsumoto incident (1994)

Tokyo subway sarin attack (1995)

Media Underground (book)

Wikisource
Commons