Shoko asahara biography of martin tn
Profile: Shoko Asahara
Shoko Asahara promised to lead his followers to salvation |
Asahara claimed to be a reincarnation of the Hindu god Shiva, and promised to lead his followers to salvation when impending Armageddon arrived.
He was born Chizuo Matsumoto, one of seven children, in the city of Yatsushiro in March
Almost blind, he attended a special school from which he graduated in
Having failed to win a place at university, Matsumoto began a career in Chinese medicine before turning to new age philosophy and an eclectic mix of spiritual ideas.
After a pilgrimage to the Himalayas in he changed his own name to Shoko Asahara and the name of a group he had founded to Aum Shinrikyo.
Shoko asahara Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, was responsible for orchestrating the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in , as well as numerous other acts of violence and terrorism.Aum is a sacred Hindu symbol and Shinrikyo means "supreme truth".
Beliefs
The cult blended Hindu and Buddhist spirituality with the biblical book of Revelations and the writings of the 16th century Christian monk Nostradamus.
Shoko Asahara was eventually arrested in May |
At its peak, in the mids, it is thought that Aum had up to 10, members, with thousands more in other countries, particularly Russia.
Asahara claimed the world would soon be enveloped by wars and evil, but by following him people could be saved.
He said he could teach levitation and telepathy, and - for a price - his followers could drink his bath water, and even his blood.
Attempts to establish a political offshoot of the group were frustrated in , when it failed miserably in the Japanese elections.
Shoko asahara biography of martin Asahara Shoko, founder of AUM Shinrikyo (“Supreme Truth”; renamed Aleph in ), a millenarian new religious movement in Japan. Asahara and members of his sect were found guilty of carrying out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 13 people and injured some 5,Aum Shinrikyo drew members from a well-educated and wealthy section of society, providing its leader with the lethal ability to pursue his aims.
Information that has come to light since the subway attack has revealed numerous attempts in the early s to buy and manufacture chemical weapons.
It also emerged that the CIA had investigated the group for trying to acquire a nuclear capability.
Murder
Investigations carried out after the subway attack implicated Aum Shinrikyo in a number of other deaths, including a previous sarin attack in which killed seven people in central Japan.
Asahara was charged with those killings, as well as with ordering the murder of an anti-Aum lawyer and his family, and cult members who went against the grain.
SHOKO ASAHARA - Born - Left school - Starts Aum Shinrikyo - First sarin attack - Tokyo subway attack - Goes on trial - Trial ends |
But it was the chilling attack on the Tokyo underground which brought Shoko Asahara international attention.
Shoko asahara biography of martin luther Shoko Asahara (麻原 彰晃, Asahara Shōkō, March 2, – July 6, ), born Chizuo Matsumoto (松本 智津夫, Matsumoto Chizuo), was the founder and leader of the Japanese doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and was also involved in several other crimes.Asahara's followers casually boarded morning rush hour trains and then pierced bags of sarin with umbrella tips.
Asahara was eventually arrested in May , after police found him hiding in the cult's headquarters near Mount Fuji.
His trial began the following year, but made slow progress partly because of Asahara's lack of co-operation - for a long time he refused to enter a plea, and would not speak except for occasional incomprehensible mutterings.
He was finally found guilty, and sentenced to death, in February The Supreme Court threw out his final appeal in September
In the meantime 11 other members of the cult had been sentenced to death.