Aum Shinrikyo Terrorist Group

Introduction The Aum Shinrikyo is a japanese New Religious Movement Organisation but they ar also labelled as a terrorist organisation in umteen an(prenominal) countries across the world. The convocation originated in 1984, in Japan. It started as a hysteria where the founder and leader, Shoko Asahara, promised followers that they would have the power to hover or bring up if they joined. Since its establishment in 1984, it has committed at least 2 terrorist attacks.The group was popular in the 1990s and had many members (10,000 in Japan and some 30,000 in Russia) but following the gigabyte gas attack on the Tokyo thermionic valve, the numbers diminished due to the group being targeted by the police. They changed the touch of the organisation from Aum Shinrikyo to Aleph. History The infamous frenzy began in 1987 and was founded by Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo has elements of Buddhism and Christianity although Christians and Buddhists have no association to the group.The fo under, Shoko Asahara, was born in 1957 and is partially blind. He spent his life studying acupuncture which is a common move in Japan for the blind. He was arrested by the Japanese authorities and held in prison for a short period for selling useless medicines to mend diseases, with the claim that they give the user modified powers. He later travelled in the Himalayas where he supposedly learnt his divine powers and was teleported to the year 2006 where he utter to s onetime(a)iers who had survived initiation War III.Asahara formed the craze in 1987 in a small yoga studio and convinced multitude that if they joined they would have special powers such as the ability to levitate and they would fight in World War III, which was to occur at the end of the millennium. Asahara grew a beard when he started the Cult as a way of appearing as a mystic. The reason the Cult was able to recruit so many members was that the unprotected sought the belief that they could posse occult arts p owers and could achieve a divers(prenominal) life to the busy, non-stop operative life of most(prenominal) people in Japan.The Cult members were stanch to Asahara and treated him as a type of Christ. He brainwashed his followers and taught a range of extreme theories such as the doomsday and apocalypse that was his World War III. He brainwashed people into thinking that if they left they would die in the apocalypse and there were cases of members going away and being killed by former(a) members, acting on Asaharas orders. In 2000, the nominate of the organisation was changed from Aum Shinrikyo to Aleph. Aleph is the first letter of the Jewish alphabet.It is somewhat of an enigma that they changed the bod to Aleph as the group is strongly opposed to Judaism. The reason for the change of name served to prove to the public they had changed and were no longer Anti-Semitic and to recruit unexampled members that were unaware of the Cults previous history. The Cult still exists toda y, although many countries such as Australia and the USA have placed Aleph and Aum Shinrikyo on terrorist tonic lists. Interestingly, Japan has not classed Aleph as a terrorist organisation, yet and current planetary membership as of 2005 is 1,650 according to Japanese government records.chemical substance Weapons The Aum Shinrikyo do sarin using over the counter products purchased at a apothecary and processed themselves. The Aum Shinrikyo maintained large warehouses where they would develop nerve agents and other chemical substance weapons. The Cult even had a headquarters in Western Australia that was close at the end of 1993. In Western Australian it is asserted they tried and true chemical weapons (Sarin gas and VX which is the most toxic nerve agent created and is classed as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) by the United States) on 29 sheep.The Cult also maintained chemical warehouses passim Japan but in many cases, local residents petitioned for them to move away. T okyo thermionic vacuum tube Sarin Gas Attacks In 1995 the Aum Shinrikyo committed the first, and worst, of their terrorist attacks. In the early cockcrow rush minute on the Tokyo subway, five Aum Shinrikyo members each released two bags of the lethal chemical, Sarin and the attack was carried out at peak hour in the subway stations where there was the largest number of people and great potential impact. The perpetrators were driven to the designated subway stations carrying 2 bags of liquid Sarin wrapped in newspaper.Some wore disguises while others had medical masks (which are kinda common in Japan). All boarded the subway carriages and placed the bags on the floor, puncturing them with umbrellas ahead hopping off at the next stop. The liquid evaporated and commuters began to feel light headed and nauseas. The subway carriages were forced to stop and were then evacuated. At one station a commuter told a staff member of a leaking bag which the staff member immediately picked u p with her hands and then placed in a bin the staff member died shortly after.Chaos followed outdoors the subway stations as Tokyos road systems were already congested with traffic and emergency services found it difficult to doubling victims. In total, 12 people died, 50 were severely injured and maybe 1000 more had temporary blindness and vision loss. The attack system to this day the worst terrorist attack committed in Japan. Aums new(prenominal) Illegal Activities Although the 1995 Tokyo Subway Sarin Gas attacks received the most publicity, it is certainly not the only terrorist and illegal act.The second most notorious and infamous reason for the Cults media insurance coverage were the Sakamoto murders. Sakamoto was an anti-cult lawyer who was working against the Aum Shinrikyo in 1989. Sakamoto convinced Asahara to take a blood raise to master if there was anything unusual in his body that would give him his supernatural powers. The test came back normal suggesting s uggest that Asahara was a fraud and had no supernatural powers. This would have been devastating for recruitment into the Aum Shinrikyo and embarrassing to Asahara.This was the reason Asahara sent his loyal followers to kill Sakamoto and his family. The method they chose to kill Sakamoto and his family was with 14 hypodermic syringes modify with potassium chloride and their bodies were mutilated to hinder identification. The perpetrators were only arrested and prosecuted because other members of the Cult were link up to the sarin gas attacks gave evidence. There has also been evidence and accusations that the Aum Shinrikyo had torture put up at some of the warehouses and headquarters.It is asserted that they placed members who tried to leave the Cult in large shipping containers where they deprived them of sleep along with committing other tortures before then killing them. Shoko Asahara A very famous vulnerability of Asahara on trial in Japan. This photo has had a lot of cove rage and even taking the cover of Time Magazine. Source www. my. dek-d. com The clean up after the Sarin Gas attacks on the subway. Source www. angelingo. usc. edu Large containers of Chemical weapons such as Sarin and VX were found in an Aum Shinrikyo warehouse throughout Japan and one in Western Australia.Source http//www. semp. us This image shows many test tubes filled with the deadly gas used in the Tokyo Subway attacks, Sarin. Source jafproject. net/images3/sarin. jpg This photo was taken outdoors a subway station after the Sarin was released. The gas do people feel nauseas and sick and they can often loose their cognizance or even die. These victims are most likely only low from temporary blindness. Sourcehttp//www. semp. us/_images/biots/Biot171PhotoA. jpg Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and one year old son.This photo was taken shortly before they were brutally murdered by members of Aum Shinrikyo under Shoko Asaharas orders. Source http//japanfocus. org A wanted photo that has been stuck on a wall outside a subway station where two sarin bags were released. The photos are of the perpetrators, Ikuo Hayashi, Kenichi Hirose, Toru Toyoda, Masato Yokoyama and Yasuo Hayashi. Sourcehttp//content. answers. com Bibliography http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo1995_Tokyo_sarin_gas_attacks_and_related_incidents http//www. religioustolerance. org/dc_aumsh. htm www. angelingo. usc. edu