Today,
terrorist attacks by religious groups occur frequently worldwide. How
can we solve this problem?
In Japan, the
Subway Sarin Gas Attack by the Aum Shinrikyo (the Aum Supreme Truth cult) occurred in 1995, causing many casualties and 12 deaths. Its leader and many members of the
sect were arrested and prosecuted in a series of Aum-related cases. In
December 2009, the death sentence given to Yoshihiro Inoue, one of the former members, was upheld.
Mr. Inoue
was initially sentenced to life in prison at his first trial for his
involvement in the Subway Sarin Gas Attack and other activities. However, he was sentenced to
death in his second trial, and the Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal
to the death sentence.
After his
arrest, he separated himself from the Aum Shinrikyo at an early stage, deeply regretting what he had done. He has been seeking a way to make reparations
for his crimes ever since.
We are
acting to support Mr. Inoue's appeal to the death sentence so he will be able to make reparations for his
crimes. We stand with him as he faces his crimes, and wish to think about them together.
In this blog,
we will publicize the personal notes he wrote in prison.
We hope that we can help prevent similar incidents from happening again by providing readers of this blog the opportunity to learn about the
current thoughts of Mr. Inoue, his experiences with the Aum Shinrikyo, and the process of his separation from the cult's ideas, and by sharing the lessons learned from the incident.
