Two decades after deadly sarin attack on Tokyo's subway in 1995 by Aum Shinrikyo, its leader Shoko Asahara was executed on July 6.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga confirmed the hanging of Shoko Asahara.
According to The Guardian, “The justice ministry did not immediately confirm that Asahara had been hanged, while the public broadcaster NHK said six other senior cult members were due to be executed the same day.”
“His Aum Supreme Truth cult, which combined a bizarre mix of Buddhist and Hindu meditation along with Christian and apocalyptic teachings, yoga and the occult, once boasted more than 10,000 followers in Japan and an estimated 30,000 in Russia.”, reported The Guardian.
According to Channel News Asia, “Asahara and 12 of his followers have been on death row for over a decade for the chemical attack that killed 13 people and injured thousands more.”
"We knew that it was coming ... (but) it is really regrettable that it took 23 years from the incident," and "There are people like my husband's parents who passed away without knowing it happened.", said Sizue Takahashi, whose subway worker husband was killed in the attack, told public broadcaster NHK.
Asahara “was sentenced to death after a lengthy prosecution during which he regularly delivered rambling and incoherent monologues in English and Japanese.”, reported Channel News Asia.
