TOKYO—Japan executed the remaining six death-row inmates involved in a doomsday cult that spread nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in 1995, ending the main legal process for an episode that traumatized the nation for years.
The executions early Thursday followed the hanging of the leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult and six of his followers on July 5. Japan executes some death-row prisoners most years but the total of 13 executions so far this year is the highest in a decade.
All of those executed were senior members of the cult convicted of involvement in the murder of 29 people in a series of attacks in the 1990s. The cult’s release of sarin gas on the Tokyo subway killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000. Many were permanently crippled.
“The suffering and sorrow of the victims and those bereaved, as well as those who escaped death but have serious handicaps defies imagination,” Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in announcing the executions.
The execution of cult leader Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, became complicated when members of his family declined to immediately receive his cremated remains. One of his daughters has said his ashes should be cast out to sea to avoid a gravesite becoming a place of pilgrimage.
Among those executed on Thursday were Matsumoto’s personal bodyguard and Aum’s chief science and technology officer, who was responsible for producing stocks of sarin and other chemicals capable of killing millions of people.
Japan and the U.S. are the only wealthy, developed countries that continue to execute prisoners. In both countries, the death penalty is generally only given to convicted murderers, although President Donald Trump this year called for it to be applied to drug traffickers.
Executions in Japan are always carried out by hanging, with three prison officers responsible for simultaneously pressing a button to open a trap door to avoid a single person carrying responsibility.
Japan executed four people last year, compared with 23 in the U.S., the second lowest total since the early 1990s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The primary method of execution in the U.S. is lethal injection.
There is little political debate about the death penalty in Japan, where support for it is generally widespread. A Japanese government survey in 2014 found 80% of the public backed the use the death penalty.
In the U.S., a Gallup poll from October found 55% of American adults favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, the lowest level in 45 years.
Criticism of Japan’s approach to executions often highlights how inmates are held on death-row for years and are only informed of their planned execution a few hours before it takes place.
“The taking of a life in retribution is never the answer. It is high time for the Japanese authorities to establish an immediate moratorium on all executions and promote an informed debate on the death penalty as first steps towards its abolition,” said Hiroka Shoji, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International.
Death sentences are only carried out in Japan when all court proceedings against the accused and others in related cases have concluded. The country’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling of life imprisonment earlier this year for a cult member, the last open case against the group.
The executions bring a conclusion to the case ahead of the planned abdication of Japanese Emperor Akihito next year. In Japan, major news events are often identified as being part of the era of a specific emperor. The end of the main legal case against Aum avoids any association with the new emperor.
Aum Shinrikyo was formed by Matsumoto in the 1980s. It practiced a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism before turning into a paranoid apocalyptic cult centered on its leader, who claimed to be a messiah.
The group set up a commune at the foot of Mount Fuji where Matsumoto preached to his followers and Aum’s scientists produced nerve gas.
Aum had about 10,000 members in Japan at its peak in the 1990s, and thousands more in Russia and other countries. A successor group of the cult remains active in Japan with around 1,500 members, according to the police.
Write to Alastair Gale at alastair.gale@wsj.com
