Former Aum cultist publishes memoir on gas attacks, cult leader

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUu82Wnz-2IvNPcXXUKjZLqMkn7TqAnQH3vrlBrNcyvoNcoCoUaOhiq59i9SqKkMbGZLSQ1lMI9vzF4iGl9_z0DkqEdvBa6Tl_FjxoxJbSW1DWhkjB846HU_eCUWGDfZi08vAIh2ZICEc/s1600/Tokyo+Subway+Sarin+Gas+Attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995 killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured." border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUu82Wnz-2IvNPcXXUKjZLqMkn7TqAnQH3vrlBrNcyvoNcoCoUaOhiq59i9SqKkMbGZLSQ1lMI9vzF4iGl9_z0DkqEdvBa6Tl_FjxoxJbSW1DWhkjB846HU_eCUWGDfZi08vAIh2ZICEc/s400/Tokyo+Subway+Sarin+Gas+Attack.jpg" title="The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995 killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured." width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995<br />killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A former executive of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who helped manufacture the sarin gas that killed 13 people and sickened more than 6,000 on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 has published a memoir.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In it, Tomomasa Nakagawa, 54, a former medical doctor and now death-row inmate, reveals the method used by the cult to manufacture the deadly nerve gas and also discusses former Aum leader Shoko Asahara, whom he cared for.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“He was a criminal before (being regarded as) a religious leader in that he transformed a religious organization into a criminal enterprise,” Nakagawa noted about Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Matsumoto, 61, is also on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nakagawa <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2016/12/japan-ex-aum-cult-member-on-death-row.html" target="_blank">published the memoir in the November issue of Gendai Kagaku</a> (Chemistry Today), urged by Anthony Tu, professor emeritus at Colorado State University and an authority of toxicology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tu, who wrote a book on the subway attacks and also a 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, that killed eight people and sickened about 600, has interviewed Nakagawa many times.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cultist, whose death sentence was finalized in 2011, was involved in both sarin atrocities and also the abduction and murders of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family members in 1989.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the beginning of the memoir, whose main theme was “Why was (Aum) able to manufacture sarin?” Nakagawa apologizes to victims of the series of crimes committed by Aum cultists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for Asahara's skill as a leader of yoga and meditation sessions, Nakagawa writes, “His capability was extremely high."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There were no people who joined Aum to commit murders. Including me, those who put absolute trust in Asahara in the fields of yoga and meditation became involved in the (fatal) incidents,” Nakagawa recalls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also reveals the chemical formulas he says were used to manufacture the sarin, which the cult began producing in around 1992.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In January 1995, the media reported that police suspected Aum was behind the sarin attack in Matsumoto. The gas was sprayed in a residential area in June the previous year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aum members hurriedly disposed of several hundreds of tons of sarin and other chemical substances to prevent police from finding the stockpile, Nakagawa writes in the memoir.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“All of us were poisoned by sarin (while doing that). I was just about able to stand,” he recalls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway system were carried out on March 20, 1995.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nakagawa was one of the cultists who manufactured it, utilizing chemicals that were not disposed of in the January clearing out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nakagawa said in court that Yoshihiro Inoue, 47, also a former Aum executive and a death-row inmate, was responsible for storing the chemicals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, in a court ruling on a different former executive of Aum, it was stated keeping the chemicals was Nakagawa's job.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Whatever the reason, terrorism is always intolerable,” the memoir reads.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It concludes with, “The background (of the act) of joining dangerous religious or terrorist organizations and the background (of the act) of carrying out terror acts after joining those organizations should be distinguished.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Minoru Kariya, 56, the eldest son of Kiyoshi, a notary public who was also abducted and killed by Aum in 1995 at the age of 68, said that many bereaved families still have questions after listening to the remarks made by various Aum members in court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“If former executives of Aum release their memoirs, it could help clarify the facts (of the series of crimes committed by the organization),” said Kariya, who has repeatedly interviewed Inoue and Nakagawa.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201701100053.html" target="_blank">Asahi Shimbun</a>, January 10, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Former Aum cultist publishes memoir on gas attacks, cult leader

The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995 killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured. A former executive of t...

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Japan: Ex-Aum cult member on death row calls founder 'criminal' in memoir

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJiSdP8dnYiUFtD1Ron9mY5maQB9m9eoNCHoy0erITRhA8Zcj8aPEkLome6LaDzlfSvtT7lWWcjKXuFLMr4oZMkjEkHjmHGPqlZ-R7mxUF9PC0oDX9Mcya1RbFBhEWttC6Rh_RJkliTk/s1600/Former+leader+of+the+Aum+Shinrikyo+cult+Shoko+Asahara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult Shoko Asahara" border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJiSdP8dnYiUFtD1Ron9mY5maQB9m9eoNCHoy0erITRhA8Zcj8aPEkLome6LaDzlfSvtT7lWWcjKXuFLMr4oZMkjEkHjmHGPqlZ-R7mxUF9PC0oDX9Mcya1RbFBhEWttC6Rh_RJkliTk/s400/Former+leader+of+the+Aum+Shinrikyo+cult+Shoko+Asahara.jpg" title="Former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult Shoko Asahara" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult Shoko Asahara</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">TOKYO — A former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who is on death row has described the founder and “guru” he once revered, Shoko Asahara, as a “criminal” in a recently published memoir.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tomomasa Nakagawa, convicted for his role in producing sarin used in the deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995, said in the six-page article in the November edition of Japanese magazine Chemistry Today that Asahara transformed what was otherwise a religious group into one that produced chemical weapons and perpetrated murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The terror attack on the subway system killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the memoir, Nakagawa, 54, referred to the founder as “Mr Asahara” and said he “chose those who deeply trusted him and ordered them to take actions” such as committing murder and manufacturing chemical weapons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said Asahara’s “ability to lead yoga and meditation was extremely high” and that none of the cult members, including himself, imagined they would become involved in such actions as killing when they joined the group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nakagawa’s death sentence was finalized in 2011. The 61-year-old Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, is also still on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His memoir also carried a personal apology to victims of the attack, as well as details of sarin production.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nakagawa decided to write the article after being encouraged by Anthony Tu, a Colorado State University emeritus professor and toxicologist researching a string of incidents involving the cult. Tu, 86, has been visiting Nakagawa while in prison since 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU4hqyrzogH3c9F2INBaIpELQoju0u1pYlxaRGEw5uXHjI1hwrXpqrjO06VGsHSUs7IwlCYBIm0re11AeiAgc43Op-uH2fLnRQ0Mo57T7Ci3VIpoXsZ04oXJT1_L6e2ja_8IentR_UlQ/s1600/Tokyo+Subway+Sarin+Gas+Attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995 killed 13 and left more than 6,000 injured." border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU4hqyrzogH3c9F2INBaIpELQoju0u1pYlxaRGEw5uXHjI1hwrXpqrjO06VGsHSUs7IwlCYBIm0re11AeiAgc43Op-uH2fLnRQ0Mo57T7Ci3VIpoXsZ04oXJT1_L6e2ja_8IentR_UlQ/s400/Tokyo+Subway+Sarin+Gas+Attack.jpg" title="The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995 killed 13 and left more than 6,000 injured." width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995<br />killed 13 and left more than 6,000 people injured.</td></tr></tbody></table>Nakagawa recounted that after succeeding in manufacturing about 30 kilograms of sarin compound in February 1994, they spread about 12 liters of it in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture in June that year. This eventually resulted in a “major incident,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aum Shinrikyo is also known for having staged a sarin gas attack in a residential area of Matsumoto in central Japan on June 27, 1994, which killed eight people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In producing sarin, one needs to have graduate school-level knowledge and experience in chemistry, and special equipment and systems must be in place to treat those who may have been poisoned by sarin, Nakagawa said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added, however, that it is hard now to obtain raw materials for sarin production and ruled out the possibility of another terror attack with sarin in Japan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“If the investigative authorities pay close attention, it would be nearly impossible for such an act to be carried out,” Nakagawa said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Death sentences have been finalized for 10 members of the cult in connection with the attack and other crimes, while sentences of life in prison have been finalized for four others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2000, Aum Shinrikyo was renamed Aleph. In 2007, senior Alegh member Fumihiro Joyu left the group to establish a separate group—Hikarinowa, or the Circle of Rainbow.</div><br />Source: Japan Today, December 18, 2016<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Japan: Ex-Aum cult member on death row calls founder 'criminal' in memoir

Former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult Shoko Asahara TOKYO — A former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who is on death row has descr...

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