Japanese Cult Leader Mentally Ill, Family Says

The family of the Japanese cult leader responsible for the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway is asking that he be moved from jail to a hospital to treat his mental illness, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 21).

Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult that used sarin to kill 12 people and sicken thousands, requires treatment unavailable in prison, his family told the Tokyo District Court. 

Asahara has been in a Tokyo jail since his lawyers appealed his death sentence in 2004 (Associated Press/Yahoo!News,, June 21).

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