Japan executes 6 sarin attack cult members

TOKYO: Japan on Thursday executed six more members of the cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, weeks after the group’s leader was hanged.

Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa confirmed that the six Aum Shinrikyo cult members remaining on death row had been executed on Thursday morning.“I ordered the executions after extremely careful consideration,” she said at a press conference.

The executions come after authorities hanged “guru” Shoko Asahara and six of his one-time followers earlier this month, after years on death row.Thursday’s executions draw a line under years of legal wrangling and public soul-searching over the group and its crimes.

But those affected by the Aum’s crimes said it would be hard to simply move on. “With the 13 members executed, perhaps the case is closed from the point of view of criminal justice,” Shizue Takahashi, whose husband was killed in the subway attack, told reporters. “(But) the damage done to the victims continues even after the executions. I find it very hard.”