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Pakistani police say a court has sentenced a Muslim man to death after finding him guilty of using derogatory remarks against Islam and its religious figures. Local police official Noor Mohammad says judge Sadfar Iqbal in Friday's ruling also imposed a 50,000 rupee ($400) fine ...
Egypt sentences 75 to death, hundreds to jail over 2013 sit-in that ended in bloodshed
An Egyptian court on Saturday issued death sentences for 75 people, including prominent Islamist leaders, and jailed more than 600 others over a 2013 sit-in that ended with the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces. The sentencing concluded the mass trial of some ...
Taiwan has executed a death row inmate, the first execution carried out under President Tsai Ing-wen's government, despite ongoing calls from rights groups to abolish the death penalty. Lee Hung-chi was executed at a prison in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Friday afternoon by ...
Ex-Aum cultist Makoto Hirata has 'no special feelings' about Shoko Asahara's execution
Makoto Hirata, a former Aum Shinrikyo executive, says he has “no special feelings” about the execution last month of Shoko Asahara, the founder of the now-defunct doomsday cult.
Authorities have decided to permanently preserve trial records of criminal cases involving the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult as part of efforts to prevent a repeat of the serious crimes committed by its members, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Friday. "Their crimes were unprecedented, and similar ...
Haruki Murakami says he cannot oppose execution of Aum cultists in '95 sarin attack
Best-selling author Haruki Murakami says he cannot publicly oppose the hanging of those who perpetrated Aum Shinrikyo's sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 despite his objections to the death penalty, but that Japan should not use the case as a pretext ...
The same ground that bred Aum Shinrikyo — and its crimes — may still be with us today.
Aum executions reignite debate over Japan's death penalty
Thursday's executions of six Aum Shinrikyo cultists — the second set of hangings this month following the executions of seven on July 6 — have reignited debate over the nation's death penalty system, marked by its opacity and the absence of prior notice to ...
With the hangings of six former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult Thursday, Yoko Kamikawa became the justice minister who has ordered the most executions, 16, since Japan lifted its 40-month moratorium on the death penalty in 1993. Thirteen of the 16 executed individuals ...
Japan sends last six Aum death row inmates to the gallows
Some speculate the Justice Ministry wanted to draw a curtain on the shocking crimes before the end of the Heisei Era, set for next April.
The following is a chronology of events related to the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult and its founder, Shoko Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto: March 2, 1955 — Matsumoto is born in Kumamoto Prefecture. February 1984 — Asahara forms group Aum Shinsen no Kai. July 1987 ...
Death penalty sought for man over 2014 deaths of two people who were buried alive in Saga
Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for a man who allegedly murdered a man and a woman by burying them alive in the city of Saga in 2014 in an attempt to avoid paying back a debt. Teruyoshi Oho, 69, is alleged to have ...
