Tokyo Subway Attack Leader Loses Final Appeal

The mastermind behind the 1995 chemical weapons attack in the Tokyo subway lost his final appeal today, when Japan’s Supreme Court upheld his death sentence, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 14).

Shoko Asahara, former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was convicted of planning the subway attack which killed 12 and injured thousands.

Asahara’s attorneys had argued that he was not mentally incompetent to stand trial, saying they had never had a coherent conversation with him.  A court-appointed psychiatrist, however, found last month that Asahara was competent and could be faking his mental illness.

Japanese courts have sentenced to death about a dozen cult members for the attack, but none have been executed as most have not completed their appeals (see GSN, Sept. 6; Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press/Forbes.com, Sept. 15).

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