Japan Executes Doomsday Cult Leader Shoko Asahara

The leader of a doomsday cult behind a lethal gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system has been executed along with several of his followers. The Japanese government confirmed Friday that Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was executed after sitting on death row for years. Six of his followers were also hanged, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The group, which has been designated a terrorist organization in the U.S. and several other countries, carried out a series of attacks in the 1990s but was most notorious for unleashing sarin gas on passengers of the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 13 and sickening thousands.