TOKYO (AP) — People in Japan expressed relief Friday that the executions had finally taken place for the doomsday cult leader responsible for the shocking…
TOKYO (AP) — People in Japan expressed relief Friday that the executions had finally taken place for the doomsday cult leader responsible for the shocking nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway two decades ago.
Shoko Asahara and six of his followers were hanged early in the morning, years after they were convicted and condemned for crimes including the sarin gas attack in 1995 that killed 13 people and injured thousands.
“I just thought, oh, the day has finally come,” said Shizue Takahashi, whose husband, a subway deputy station master, was killed in the subway attack.
Reflecting widespread sentiments, Takahashi noted she was still struggling to make sense of what had happened, although the executions had been expected.
She told a news conference that she had hoped in vain authorities would come up with clearer lessons for anti-terrorism measures to prevent a recurrence.
Newspapers handed out extra editions about the executions to crowds at train stations.
“It’s an end of an era,” said one man, Masami Sakurai.
Japan, a relatively crime-free nation, was stunned by the March 20,1995, gas attack. Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult left sarin, a deadly nerve agent, in plastic bags on subway cars and poked the bags with umbrellas before fleeing. Commuters overcome by the gas were left writhing in pain.
The cult was implicated in other horrifying crimes.
