Japan cult leader, others executed for roles in 1995 gas attack

TOKYO — Doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara and six followers were executed Friday for their roles in a deadly 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subways and other crimes, Japan’s Justice Ministry said.

The hanging of Asahara, 63, closes a chapter on one of Japan’s most shocking crimes in the 20th century. During the morning rush hour of March 20, 1995, members of the his Aum Shinrikyo cult punctured plastic bags to release sarin nerve gas inside subway cars, killing 13 people and sickening more than 6,000.

“This gave me a piece of mind,” Kiyoe Iwata, who lost her daughter in the subway attack, told Japanese broadcaster NHK. “I have always been wondering why it had to be my daughter and why she had to be killed. Now, I can pay a visit to her grave and tell her of this.”

Asahara and five of the six executed were implicated in the subway attack. The cult also carried out other crimes that together with the subway attack killed 27 people in total. Six other followers remain on death row.

The others hanged Friday included two scientists who led the production of the sarin gas and a man who was one of those who carried out the actual attack on the subway.

Founded in 1984, the cult attracted many young people, even graduates of top universities, whom Asahara hand-picked as close aides.

The cult amassed an arsenal of chemical, biological and conventional weapons to carry out Asahara’s escalating criminal orders in anticipation of an apocalyptic showdown with the government.

The cult claimed 10,000 members in Japan and 30,000 in Russia. It has disbanded, though nearly 2,000 people follow its rituals in three splinter groups, monitored by authorities.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Suga said authorities are taking precautionary measures in case of any retaliation by his followers.