Shoko Asahara

Japanese police arrested Aum Supreme Truth guru Shoko Asahara today on suspicion of murder in connection with the deadly poison gas attack against Tokyo subway riders, climaxing the nation's biggest criminal investigation. The arrest, carried out amid a heavy morning mist in a raid by 2,000 officers at the group's compound near Mt. Fuji, promises to unravel the mysterious poisoning, which killed 12 people, sickened 5,500 others and deeply shook this normally tranquil nation.

Japan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the founder of the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult, paving the way for his execution. Shoko Asahara, 51, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2004 for masterminding attacks, including a 1995 nerve-gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 27.

Japan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the founder of the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult, paving the way for his execution. Shoko Asahara, 51, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2004 for masterminding attacks, including a 1995 nerve-gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 27.

Like good daughters anywhere, Mayumi and Kaori Asahara worry about their father's declining health. They are alarmed that he looks so thin and won't see a doctor. They fret that he refuses to wear the new clothes they gave him to replace his fraying old ones. But they desperately need something back from their father too. They are seeking an explanation of why the man who taught them to cherish life, even that of an ant, could be a cult leader responsible for Japan's worst terrorist attack.

Psychiatrists have determined that former Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara, who is appealing his conviction in a 1995 subway gas attack, is fit for trial, national broadcaster NHK reported today. Asahara, the former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo group, was convicted and sentenced to death in the nerve gas assault on Tokyo subways and other attacks that killed a total of 27 people. His lawyers are appealing that ruling.

The self-styled messiah who police believe was behind a Tokyo subway attack hinted that he may try to shift the blame for the deadly poisoning away from himself. "I can't know everything each of many disciples is doing," cult leader Shoko Asahara reportedly said. Yet even as Asahara was making his first court appearance, newspapers reported that police had found a sealed underground chamber at his rural hide-out with yet another huge cache of nerve gas ingredients.

A Tokyo court ordered apocalyptic cult guru Shoko Asahara and two of his top followers to pay nearly $7.5 million in damages to victims of last year's nerve gas attack on the city's subways. It is unlikely the money will ever be paid, because the Aum Supreme Truth cult has been declared bankrupt and ordered to disband. Regardless, survivors of the attack, which left 11 dead, consider the ruling a legal victory that could set a precedent for other civil lawsuits against the cult.

Prosecutors today accused a cult leader of ordering a nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways because he feared a police raid. The prosecutors began laying out their case a day after cult guru Shoko Asahara refused to enter a plea to charges he masterminded the March 20, 1995, attack that killed 11 people and sickened more than 5,500. Asahara planned the attack as a diversionary tactic designed to "set off massive confusion in the Tokyo area," the prosecutors said.

The leader of the cult that carried out the Tokyo subway attack celebrated afterward, welcoming his disciples back with refreshments and praising them for the nerve gas killings, prosecutors said Thursday. On the second day of a trial that has riveted the nation, prosecutors laid out their case against Shoko Asahara, portraying him as a coldblooded killer in a 99-page opening statement full of previously undisclosed details.

Japanese prosecutors pressed another set of murder charges against cult guru Shoko Asahara, this time over the deaths of a lawyer and his family who disappeared six years ago, Japanese media reported. The leader of the Aum Supreme Truth sect was indicted along with five of his top followers on charges of murdering the couple and their son, NHK public television and the Kyodo news agency said.

Psychiatrists have determined that former Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara, who is appealing his conviction in a 1995 subway gas attack, is fit for trial, national broadcaster NHK reported today. Asahara, the former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo group, was convicted and sentenced to death in the nerve gas assault on Tokyo subways and other attacks that killed a total of 27 people. His lawyers are appealing that ruling.

Aum Supreme Truth guru Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging Friday, almost nine years after his cult released nerve gas in Tokyo's subway, killing 12 people and sickening thousands. The Tokyo District Court's presiding judge, Shoji Ogawa, in handing down the sentence, called Asahara's crimes "vicious and merciless." "His crimes did not stop at the murder of specific individuals but expanded into indiscriminate acts of terrorism," Ogawa said.

The Japanese cult accused of carrying out the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway once raised money by selling mouthfuls of blood to its followers, a witness testified Friday. Kazuo Konya, a former cult member, told the court that he was given a "blood initiation" in 1988, drinking what was described as blood from cult leader Shoko Asahara. Konya said he paid more than $8,100 for the ritual.

A Tokyo court ordered apocalyptic cult guru Shoko Asahara and two of his top followers to pay nearly $7.5 million in damages to victims of last year's nerve gas attack on the city's subways. It is unlikely the money will ever be paid, because the Aum Supreme Truth cult has been declared bankrupt and ordered to disband. Regardless, survivors of the attack, which left 11 dead, consider the ruling a legal victory that could set a precedent for other civil lawsuits against the cult.

A defiant Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Supreme Truth cult accused of last year's deadly gas attack on Tokyo's subways, insisted at a legal hearing Wednesday that the evidence against his sect is fabricated. Speaking under tight security at a jailhouse hearing on whether his group should be banned as a subversive organization, Asahara, 41, said his followers are peaceful and pose no threat to society, and he called on fugitive members of the sect to surrender.

The leader of the cult that carried out the Tokyo subway attack celebrated afterward, welcoming his disciples back with refreshments and praising them for the nerve gas killings, prosecutors said Thursday. On the second day of a trial that has riveted the nation, prosecutors laid out their case against Shoko Asahara, portraying him as a coldblooded killer in a 99-page opening statement full of previously undisclosed details.

The murder trial of the guru accused of masterminding the deadly Tokyo subway gas attack was back on track Friday when the cult leader reappointed the lawyer he fired just two days earlier. Aum Supreme Truth leader Shoko Asahara, who faces hanging if found guilty of ordering the March 20 attack--which killed 12 people and sickened 5,500--had fired his lawyer on the eve of his trial Wednesday, forcing the Tokyo district court to call off the proceedings.

Prosecutors today accused a cult leader of ordering a nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways because he feared a police raid. The prosecutors began laying out their case a day after cult guru Shoko Asahara refused to enter a plea to charges he masterminded the March 20, 1995, attack that killed 11 people and sickened more than 5,500. Asahara planned the attack as a diversionary tactic designed to "set off massive confusion in the Tokyo area," the prosecutors said.

Shoko Asahara, the apocalyptic guru accused of launching a campaign of mass terrorism on one of the world's largest cities, appeared in court today to answer charges of masterminding the deadly nerve gas attack on Tokyo subway riders last year. Asahara, who lured hordes of young followers into his Aum Supreme Truth cult with claims of supernatural powers and a doomsday vision of salvation, is accused of killing 11 people and injuring more than 5,500 others in the attack on March 20, 1995.