Shoko Asahara , born Chizuo Matsumoto , was the founder and leader of the Japanese doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and was also involved in several other crimes. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and his final appeal failed in 2011. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum members. He was ultimately executed along with other senior members of Aum Shinrikyo on July 6, 2018.
Asahara in 1990
Aum Shinrikyo facility in Kamikuisshiki.
Asahara's death warrant.
Aleph , better known by their former name Aum Shinrikyo , is a Japanese new religious movement and doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been responsible for the Matsumoto sarin attack the previous year.
Aum Shinrikyo facility in Kamikuisshiki, September 8, 1996
An anti–Aum Shinrikyo protest in Japan, 2009
An anti–Aum Shinrikyo banner in 2014
PSIA officers conduct a surprise inspection on a suspected Aleph building in 2013.