Aleph (Japanese: アレフ, Hepburn: Arefu), better known by their former name Aum Shinrikyo (オウム真理教, Oumu Shinrikyō, literally 'religion of Aum Supreme Truth'), is a Japanese new religious movement and doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been responsible for the Matsumoto sarin attack the previous year.
The group says that those who carried out attacks did so secretly, without being known to other executives and ordinary believers. Asahara insisted on his innocence in a radio broadcast relayed from Russia and directed toward Japan.[2]
On 6 July 2018, after exhausting all appeals, Asahara and six followers on death row were executed as punishment for the 1995 attacks and other crimes.[3][4] Six additional followers were executed on 26 July.[5] At 12:10 am, on New Year's Day 2019, at least nine people were injured (one seriously) when a car was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating the new year on Takeshita Street in Tokyo. Local police reported the arrest of Kazuhiro Kusakabe, the suspected driver, who allegedly admitted to intentionally ramming his vehicle into crowds to protest his opposition to the death penalty, specifically in retaliation for the execution of the aforementioned Aum cult members.
Aum Shinrikyo, which split into Aleph and Hikari no Wa in 2007, had already been formally designated a terrorist organization by several countries, including Russia,[6] Canada,[7] Japan,[8] France, Kazakhstan, as well as the European Union.[9] It was previously designated by the United States as a terrorist organization until 2022, when the State Department determined the group to be largely defunct as a terrorist organization.[10]
The Public Security Intelligence Agency considered Aleph and Hikari no Wa to be branches of a "dangerous religion"[11] and it announced in January 2015 that they would remain under surveillance for three more years.[12] The Tokyo District Court canceled the extension to surveillance of Hikari no Wa in 2017 following legal challenges from the group, but continued to keep Aleph under watch.[13] The government appealed the cancellation, and in February 2019, the Tokyo High Court overturned the lower court's decision, reinstating the surveillance, citing no major changes between Aum Shinrikyo and Hikari no Wa.[14]
^Cite error: The named reference npa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Senate Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (31 October 1995). "VI. Overseas Operations: Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo". FAS.org. Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^Ramzy, Austin (5 July 2018). "Japan Executes Cult Leader Behind 1995 Sarin Gas Subway Attack". The New York Times.
^"Tokyo Sarin attack: Aum Shinrikyo cult leaders executed". BBC News. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
^"Tokyo Sarin attack: Japan executes last Aum Shinrikyo members on death row". BBC News. 26 July 2018.
^"Единый федеральный список организаций, в том числе иностранных и международных организаций, признанных в соответствии с законодательством Российской Федерации террористическими :: Федеральная Служба Безопасности". www.fsb.ru. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
^"Order Recommending that Each Entity Listed as of 23 July 2004, in the Regulations Establishing a List of Entities Remain a Listed Entity". Canada Gazette. Part II, 138 (24). Government of Canada. 22 March 2006. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014 – via justice.gc.ca.
^"主な国際テロ組織、世界のテロ・武装組織等の概要及び最近の動向" [Overview of major international terrorist organizations, global terrorist and armed groups, etc., and recent trends] (in Japanese). Public Security Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
^"EU terrorist list". europa.eu. The Council of the European Union.
^"US removes 5 groups from terror blacklist, retains al-Qaida". AP NEWS. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
^National Police Agency (Japan) (2009), "The White Paper on Police 2009 (平成21年警察白書, Heisei Nijūichi nen Keisatsu Hakusyo), GYOSEI Corporation, pg. 160.
^Cite error: The named reference jiji was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Court lets Aum splinter group Hikari no Wa off surveillance but keeps Aleph in check". Japan Times. 25 September 2017. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
^"Tokyo Court Backs Extended Surveillance of Aum-Linked Group". 28 February 2019. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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