Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway

The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, usually referred to in the Japanese media as the 地下鉄サリン事件 (chikatetsu sarin jiken "subway sarin incident") was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by members of the religious group Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995. In five coordinated attacks, the conspirators released sarin gas on several lines of the Tokyo Subway, killing twelve people and injuring some six thousand more. The attack was directed against trains passing through Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho, home to the Japanese government. This was (and remains, as of 2005) the most serious attack that has occurred in Japan since the end of the Second World War.

Background

AUM Shinrikyō (オウム真理教, literally, "AUM the True Teaching") is the former name of a controversial religious group based in Japan. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when its founder and a group of followers were accused of masterminding the poison gas attack.

Related Topics:
AUM - Group - Japan

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The name AUM Shinrikyō derives from the Hindu syllable "aum" (pronounced "ohm") meaning "powers of creation and destruction of a universe," and the Japanese words "shinri" ("truth") and "kyō" ("teaching," "doctrine"). In 2000, after the attack, the organization changed its name to Aleph (א), which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Their logo has also changed. Despite this, the group is still commonly referred to as AUM.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Aum - Japanese - Aleph - Hebrew alphabet

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The Japanese police initially said that the attack was the cult's way of hastening the apocalypse. The prosecution said that it was an attempt to bring down the government and install Asahara Shōkō, the group's founder, as the "king" of Japan. The most recent theory proposes that the attack was an attempt to divert attention from AUM when the group obtained some information indicating that police searches were planned (though contrary to this plan, it ended up leading to mass searches and arrests). Asahara's defence team claimed that certain senior members of the group independently planned the attack, but their motives for this are left unexplained.

Related Topics:
Police - Asahara Shōkō

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Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging on February 27, 2004, but lawyers have appealed. The Tokyo High Court has postponed a decision on the appeal until it hears results of a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation to determine whether Asahara is fit to stand trial.

Related Topics:
Sentenced to death - Hanging - February 27 - 2004

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