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Jan 19, 2010

Cult member's appeal rejected

TOKYO - JAPAN'S Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal against a death sentence for a senior member of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 deadly sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The ruling means Tomomitsu Niimi, 45, will be the 10th member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult who will face execution after exhausting all legal appeals. Three others are awaiting verdicts on appeals against their death sentences. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed down by two lower courts against Niimi, who was convicted on 11 counts, including the subway attack that killed 12 people, and the murders of a lawyer, his wife and their baby. Niimi, who was involved in the deaths of a total of 26 people, including other killings by the cult, and his lawyers had contended that he simply followed the orders of Aum leader Shoko Asahara in the series of crimes. Fifteen years since the attack, Niimi still worships Aum leader Asahara, 54, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, making prayers in his cell, Jiji Press said. Asahara is on death row for the gas attack and other crimes. -- AFP