[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 10




ISRAEL:

'Japan also executes terrorists'----Yisrael Beytenu MK pushes bill mandating 
death sentence for terrorists, points out human rights organizations' 
hypocrisy.



Yisrael Beytenu MK Robert Ilatov demanded that the Knesset advance the bill 
mandating the death penalty for terrorists.

The bill was frozen after passing its 1st Knesset reading in January.

"Contrary to the claims of those who oppose the death penalty for terrorists, 
we see that in the most enlightened countries, such as the US and Japan, the 
death penalty is an effective weapon against terror," Ilatov said.

"There's no question that Japan is a progressive country, one of the most 
developed in the world. Just this weekend, Japan executed the terrorists who 
carried out a sarin attack on Tokyo's subway.

"Obviously, the hypocritical human rights organizations did not say a word."

Ilatov also said he had spoken to the head of Israel's National Security 
Council (NSC), demanding a discussion on the law.

"We hope the NSC will keep its promise and that the discussion in another 
month, so that the legislation process can advance," Ilatov said.

(source: israelnationalnews.com)








INDIA:

Madras HC upholds death penalty for Chennai techie who raped and murdered 
7-year-old

Dhasvanth was accused of raping and murdering his 7-year-old neighbour as well 
as murdering his mother while on bail.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld the death penalty verdict given by the 
Chengalpet court for Chennai techie (Dhasvanth) in the rape and murder case of 
a 7-year-old child.

Judges S Vimala and S Ramathilagam dismissed Dhasvanth's appeal against the 
death penalty. He had filed an appeal as he wasn't satisfied with the 
investigation of the case.

Dhasvanth has been held guilty under the POCSO Act and Sections 363, 366, 
354-b, 302 and 201 of the IPC.

In February 2017, a 7-year-old girl went missing from her housing complex in 
the Mugalivakkam area of Chennai. It later came to light that her neighbour, 
Dhasvanth, a techie had lured her, sexually assaulted and killed her. He is 
also accused of killing his mother when he was out on bail and fleeing with her 
jewellery.

(source: indiatoday.in)

*********************

Death penalty won't eradicate crimes against women: Amnesty on SC order in 
Delhi gangrape case----The International human rights body claimed there was no 
evidence that showed that the death penalty deterred the incidence of sexual 
violence and murder.



Executions do not eradicate violence against women, Amnesty International India 
said on Monday after the apex court dismissed pleas of 3 of the 4 convicts 
seeking a review of the death penalty awarded to them, in the December 16, 2012 
gangrape and murder case of a paramedic.

Noting that there was no evidence to show death penalty acted as a deterrent 
for sexual violence, the human rights body said the government must allocate 
adequate resources for the effective implementation of laws, improve conviction 
rates and ensure certainty of justice in all cases.

"Unfortunately executions do not eradicate violence against women. There is no 
evidence to show that death penalty acts as a deterrent for sexual violence or 
any other crime. Instead, the government must allocate adequate resources for 
the effective implementation of laws, improve conviction rates and ensure 
certainty of justice in all cases," Asmita Basu, Amnesty International India's 
Programmes director, said.

"Even the Justice Verma Committee, whose recommendations were relied upon to 
reform the laws on sexual assault and rape, had opposed imposing death penalty 
in cases of rape," she said.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R 
Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan today rejected the review pleas filed by Mukesh 
(29), Pawan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23), saying no grounds have been made 
out by them for review of the verdict.

The court said the death row convicts failed to point out "error apparent on 
the face of record" in the judgement.

Amnesty International India said in 2017, India was 1 of only 3 countries in 
the world which expanded the scope of death penalty by adopting new laws.

In April 2018, the Centre had approved an ordinance introducing death penalty 
for those convicted of raping girls aged 12 years or younger, it said.

"All too often lawmakers in the country hold up capital punishment as a symbol 
of their resolve to tackle crime, and choose to ignore more difficult and 
effective solutions like improving investigations, prosecutions and support for 
victims' families. Far-reaching procedural and institutional reforms are the 
need of the hour," Basu added.

The bench also ruled that the 3 convicts were heard elaborately during the 
stage of their appeal against the Delhi high court's judgement, and no case had 
been made out by them for review of the apex court's verdict upholding the 
death penalty.

(source: Hindustan Times)

******************

No ground to erase death penalty in Indian law: Supreme Court----The apex court 
dealt with this issue as advocate A P Singh, appearing for convicts of Nirbhaya 
case, had argued before it about abolition of death penalty in India.



The Supreme Court today said the abolition of death penalty by the British 
Parliament, several Latin American nations and Australian states was no ground 
to erase capital punishment from the statutes in India.

The apex court, which dismissed the review pleas filed by 3 of the 4 death row 
convicts of the sensational December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder 
case, said the courts cannot be held for committing any illegality in awarding 
capital punishment in "appropriate cases" till death penalty remains in the 
penal code.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan 
referred to a constitution bench verdict of the apex court and observed that 
after elaborately considering the existence of death penalty in the penal code, 
constitutional provisions and international covenant on civil and criminal 
rights, it was held that death penalty was "constitutionally valid".

The apex court dealt with this issue as advocate A P Singh, appearing for 
convicts Vinay Sharma and Pawan Kumar Gupta, had argued before it about 
abolition of death penalty in India.

"The submission of (A P) Singh that death penalty has been abolished by the 
Parliament of UK in the year 1966 and several Latin American countries, and 
Australian states have also abolished death penalty, is no ground to efface 
death penalty from the statute book of our country," Justice Bhushan, writing 
the judgement for the bench, said while rejecting the review pleas filed by 
Vinay and Pawan.

Besides these 2 convicts, the apex court also rejected the review plea of 
another death-row convict Mukesh.

After the apex court verdict, human rights body Amnesty International India, in 
a statement, said that executions do not eradicate violence against women and 
government must allocate adequate resources for effective implementation of 
laws, improve conviction rates and ensure certainty of justice in all cases.

"Unfortunately executions do not eradicate violence against women.

There is no evidence to show that death penalty acts as a deterrent for sexual 
violence or any other crime.

Instead, the government must allocate adequate resources for the effective 
implementation of laws, improve conviction rates and ensure certainty of 
justice in all cases," Asmita Basu, Amnesty International India's Programmes 
director, said.

The 23-year-old paramedic student was gangraped on the intervening night of 
December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by 6 persons and 
severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road.

She had succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital 
in Singapore.

The apex court in its May 5, 2017 verdict had upheld capital punishment awarded 
to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case.

***************

Death given, fate awaited: A look of convicts awaiting the noose in India



Here's a look at the number of convicts given death penalty and the convicts 
who are presently on death row presented as a statewise figure.

According to data by Project 39A, National Law University, 720 prisoners have 
been executed in independent India although thousands of death sentences were 
meted out. Currently, there are more than 400 convicts waiting for the warrant 
in jail.

[see map for specifics: 
http://www.newindianexpress.com/explainers/2018/jul/10/death-given-fate-awaited-a-look-of-convicts-awaiting-the-noose-in-india-1841164.html]

(source for both: newindianexpress.com)








IRAN----juvenile execution

Execution of Young Man for Crime Committed at Age 14 Shows Iran's Blatant 
Disregard for Children's Rights----Iran is one of world's few countries 
executing juveniles; dozens currently on death row



The execution of 19-year old Chezani Sharahi by hanging in Iran's Central 
Prison in the city of Qom on June 27, 2018, highlights the Iranian Judiciary's 
complete disregard for children's rights that are protected under international 
law, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. This 
execution and the abuses of the judiciary and other state bodies that enable 
such violations should be forcefully condemned by the international community, 
CHRI said.

The execution of an individual who committed the crime as a juvenile is against 
all international norms and standards, and has been repeatedly condemned by the 
UN.

"Hanging a young man who committed the crime at age 14 demonstrates Iran's 
dismissal of international law and obligations and shows it to be a state that 
rejects the protected rights of its own citizens, including its children," said 
Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.

Sharahi was arrested in December 2013 at the age of 14 for allegedly stabbing 
his friend. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights (ICCPR) and Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is illegal to 
execute someone for crimes committed under the age of 18. Iran is a party to 
both treaties but remains one among a handful of countries still putting 
juveniles to death.

Sharahi's hanging also demonstrates how other state bodies routinely collude 
with the judiciary to advance prosecutions. In this case, Iran's Legal Medicine 
Organization declared that Sharahi had achieved full "mental maturity" by the 
age of 14, when the crime was committed, thereby enabling the death sentence. 
This assessment was accepted by the court even after credible concerns were 
raised regarding the legitimacy of the assessment.

Sharahi's execution was the 4th carried out against a juvenile offender in the 
country since January 2018. Dozens of others of people who were sentenced as 
juveniles remain on death row.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein condemned the 
continued implementation of the death penalty against juvenile offenders in 
Iran, stressing that the execution of juvenile offenders is strictly prohibited 
by international law under all circumstances, regardless of the nature of the 
crime alleged to have been committed.

"I am deeply disturbed that Iran continues to implement the death penalty 
against juvenile offenders, with some 85 others reportedly on death row," Zeid 
said on in a statement on June 28.

"The international community should speak loudly and with one voice to condemn 
this blatant violation of children???s rights and the Iranian authorities' 
continued practice of executing juvenile offenders," said Ghaemi.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








JAPAN:

Aum Shinrikyo: The Japanese Killer Cult That Wanted to Rule the World----They 
made weapons of mass destruction, worked with the yakuza, and killed anyone in 
the way. The U.S. was also in their cross-hairs. The leaders are now dead. Not 
the cult.



The leader of Japan's apocalyptic neo-Buddhist cult, Shoko Asahara (real name: 
Chizuo Matsumoto), aged 63, was hanged by the neck until dead on Thursday for 
his role in the 1995 sarin nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway and other 
brutal acts which resulted in the deaths of at least 29 people. 6 other former 
disciples also were executed, according to Japan's ministry of justice.

Asahara's death sentence was finalized in 2006. The Japanese government, as a 
general rule, only carries out executions when all appeals and related court 
cases have been exhausted. Still, it's unclear why these executions took place 
now.

During Asahara's time as the leader of Aum Shinrikyo, he justified murder of 
opponents as "cleaning karma" (karma-otoshi) or "poa," he worked with the 
yakuza, and planned acts of mass destruction.

In the final verdict upholding his death penalty in 2006, the guru's motives 
were summed up succinctly by the court: "Asahara under the pretext of offering 
salvation fantasized about ruling Japan as its king. He tried to kill anyone 
who got in the way."

But Japan was, in fact, too small for his ambitions. Many people still are not 
aware of what a global organization his group had become or the threat it posed 
to other countries, including and especially the United States. Aum Shinrikyo 
was virulently anti-American, anti-Semitic, and used offices in the U.S. to 
prepare for large-scale attacks in Japan and a future attack in New York as 
well. Asahara was plotting global domination.

Destroyer of Worlds

Aum Shinrikyo was a new religion founded in February 1984 that espoused a 
mixture of science, occultism, Buddhism, eastern religion, and new age 
theology. Asahara, the founder, was highly intelligent and charismatic. He was 
also legally blind, which added to his oracular aura. He claimed to be a deity, 
capable of purifying sinners, and a prophet of the end times.

Asahara recruited the brightest minds he could find and over the years began 
turning the cult into a brutally efficient war machine. As it recruited 
thousands of members, the group used mind control, psychedelic drugs, secret 
rituals, violence, and blackmail to keep them in line. Asahara eventually came 
to fancy himself as the incarnation of Shiva, the Indian god of destruction.

By 1988, the cult was engaging in criminal behavior - forcing donations from 
members and holding them captive - that caught the attention of law 
enforcement. The point of no return came in February 1989 when several of 
Asahara's followers strangled to death cult member Shuji Taguchi, who had tried 
to leave the organization. Asahara ordered the execution.

Then, on Nov. 4, 1989, disciples of Asahara raided the home of Tsutsumi 
Sakamoto, a lawyer handling complaints against the religious group, kidnapping 
his wife and his one year old son. One member of the hit-squad was Asahara's 
bodyguard, skilled in karate. He severely beat the lawyer before finishing him 
off and kicked his wife in the stomach while the other members strangled her. 
It was a crude and cruel execution.

"After killing the Sakamoto family, the leaders of Aum Shinrikyo didn't have 
qualms about a few more murders."

Why was the lawyer killed? A Japanese news network had filmed an interview with 
Sakamoto a few weeks earlier in which the lawyer had discussed his great 
concerns about the cult and its fanatical tendencies. The network showed the 
tape to Aum Shinrikyo senior members seeking comment. Tipped off to the 
problematic interview and increasingly annoyed by Sakamoto's actions, the guru 
ordered his assassination.

The Kanagawa Police did a sloppy investigation of the the "disappearance" of 
the lawyer, even failing to find an Aum Shinrikyo badge that had fallen at the 
scene of the crime. Some speculate that their failure may have been due to a 
cult sympathizer within the police force. The television station did not air 
the interview after the disappearance of the family, or alert the police to the 
fact that it might inadvertently have given the cult a reason to kill them.

After killing the Sakamoto family, the leaders of Aum Shinrikyo didn???t have 
qualms about a few more murders. At about the same time they also were reaching 
the conclusion that they would need to rule Japan to bring about the apocalypse 
and spread the wisdom of Asahara.

"It was estimated that Aum Shinrikyo had assets of close to a billion dollars 
by 1995."

In 1990, 24 members of the group ran for office in the Japanese parliamentary 
elections, but none were elected. So the cult's top executives decided that 
violent revolution would be necessary - by any means possible. They even 
created a shadow cabinet among members, so that they could quickly run Japan 
when the day came.

Asahara fancied himself a prophet and what better way to be a prophet than 
making what you say come true? He predicted the cult would be attacked with 
chemical weapons and that armageddon would come by 1995 or 1997 or 1999.

The firm began plans to create weapons of mass destruction. Yoshihiro Inoue, 
one of the Aum members executed on Thursday, stated in court testimony in 1997 
that Asahara's final goal "was to take over the world by spreading sarin in 
Japan and the United States, killing the Emperor, and winning over Russia by 
bribery."

The cult needed funds to bring these plans to fruition and had no scruples 
about gaining those funds by any means possible. They began manufacturing 
methamphetamines and selling them to the Japanese mafia, the yakuza. The group 
successfully recruited several yakuza to its cause, assigning one to help 
manufacture guns - a rare item in a country with some of the strictest gun 
control laws in the world.

Hideo Murai, "The Minister of Science and Technology," watched over the weapons 
development and acted as conduit to the yakuza. However, the cult also ran 
legitimate businesses: curry shops, personal computer stores, and yoga classes. 
It was estimated that Aum Shinrikyo had assets of close to a billion dollars by 
1995.

Preparing for the End of Times

According to the 1995 "A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo" by the U.S. Senate's 
Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations - which was 
compiled with the aid of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Japan's National 
Police Agency, The Australian Federal Police and others - the cult set up 
operations in at least 7 different countries: Russia, Australia, Germany, 
Former Yugoslavia, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka. The United States was not only a 
training base and weapons development site for members of the cult, they also 
were considering a large scale attack on New York City, and they certainly had 
the capability.

According to the report, "Aum Shinrikyo came to the United States officially in 
late 1987 when it incorporated in New York City under the name Aum USA Company, 
Ltd., a not-for-profit corporation. Although the office purported to promote 
the cult's book sales and recruitment of followers, the Staff's review of 
records and documents, and interviews of the manager of the New York office, 
establish that the office was also acting as a purchasing agent for the cult as 
it attempted to obtain high technology equipment, computer software and 
hardware, and other items from the United States, much of which was intended to 
assist the cult's militarization program. Additionally, in the 1990s the cult 
used a purchasing agent in California to facilitate acquisition of similar 
technology and hardware, and military equipment such as gas masks."

"As early as 1992 Aum was looking at ways to spread sarin via a helicopter."

The group purchased molecular modeling software and other materials in the 
United States which were most likely used to develop chemical weapons. They 
also tried to buy a high-powered laser system, costing nearly half a million 
dollars, presumably to weaponize it.

By 1993, the group was moving ahead with its development of deadly chemical 
weapons. It had managed to synthesize VX gas and sarin, a deadly nerve gas 
originally developed by Nazi Germany. The Australian Federal Police later found 
that in the spring of 1993 the cult had purchased a 500,000 acre sheep farm in 
Baniawarn, 375 miles northeast of Perth. They set up a high-tech laboratory on 
the farm.

In the same year, Hideo Murai, the supposed minister of science and technology, 
and other members, were stopped by Australian customs due to suspicious 
behavior. Customs officials searched their bags and found "four liters of 
concentrated hydrochloric acid, including some in containers marked as hand 
soap.... ammonium chloride, sodium sulphate, perchloric acid, and ammonium 
water."

The Australian authorities confiscated all of the chemicals and some of the 
laboratory equipment. The police later confirmed that Aum had conducted 
experiments on the sheep there. The authorities extracted trace elements of 
sarin in the ground where a group of 29 dead sheep had been found.

The lambs to the slaughter preceded the mass murders that were to come.

As early as 1992 Aum was looking at ways to spread sarin via a helicopter to do 
maximum damage. In October of 1993, two cult members came to the U.S. to obtain 
pilot licenses for private helicopters. They received flight lessons from a 
private flight school in Florida. They obtained a private pilot rating for 
rotorcraft helicopters on October 31, 1993. Shortly after that, the group 
purchased a helicopter in Russia.

The Attacks

In June 1994, Aum did a test run of the sarin gas in a residential area of 
Matsumoto City, killing 7 people and seriously injuring others. The 1st man to 
report the attack, whose wife died from exposure to the chemical agent, was 
suspected of being responsible. His name was leaked to the press by local 
police.

However, by January of 1995, Japan's National Police Agency, was almost certain 
that Aum had released the nerve gas in Matsumoto City. Still, they took no 
decisive action. In fact, a team of police reporters led by Akihiko Misawa, at 
the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, on the front page of its Jan. 1, 1995 edition, 
boldly announced to the world that traces of sarin had been found in soil 
deposits from the group's compound in Yamanashi Prefecture.

And then March 20 came. The original plan was to murder thousands of innocent 
people, perhaps in an effort to derail investigations into the cult's 
activities. The only reasons Aum failed to do that were impurities in the sarin 
and a faulty delivery system. There are conflicting theories on why the attack 
was launched, in the end, with such evident haste. Asahara never explained.

The original plan was to place 10 small containers of sarin on 5 trains running 
on 3 major lines of the Tokyo subway system (Marunouchi, Chiyoda and Hibiya), 
which have millions of riders.

"Initially 12 people died and over 6,000 were sickened or injured. Massive 
panic ensued as the gas caused victims to choke, vomit and fall down with 
severe coughing."

They aimed for maximum damage by releasing the sarin during rush hour between 
8:00 and 8:10 a.m.

The attack was aimed to culminate in Kasumigaseki, a major subway hub station, 
that is within walking distance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 
Ministry of Finance, and both the Tokyo Police and the National Police Agency. 
Many of the commuters passing through Kasumigaseki station are public 
officials.

The plan did not go as expected. Initially 12 people died and over 6,000 were 
sickened or injured. Massive panic ensued as the gas caused victims to choke, 
vomit and fall down with severe coughing. First responders were also injured 
and at least 1 Metro employee lost his life trying to save commuters.

On March 22, 2 days after the attacks, police launched massive raids on Aum and 
its facilities.

On March 30 the National Police Agency Commissioner General Takaji Kunimatsu 
was shot and severely wounded in front of his home in Arakawa Ward. Many 
believed that Aum was responsible; the case was never solved.

On May 16, Asahara was finally found and arrested. The same month, Aum member, 
Toru Toyoda (on death row) and other members set up a machine to disperse a 
fatal cloud of cyanide fumes by placing it in an underground passage connected 
to megalithic transport hub, Shinjuku Station, but fortunately they failed.

What would have happened if the police hadn't arrested the members for the 
attack? More than likely, they would have expanded the scope of their terrorist 
campaign to New York and beyond.

The cult's chief of intelligence, when captured by the police, had detailed 
notebooks outlining plans to carry out randoms acts of terrorism in major U.S. 
cities, including New York. The group also considered mailing packages of sarin 
to the U.S., to be collected by members and then used to launch a series of 
attacks.

In court testimony, other members of the group discussed further plans to 
unleash havoc in the United States. A senior police detective who worked on the 
case for 3 years told The Daily Beast on conditions of anonymity, "They had 
members who could go in and out of the United States who were trained to fly 
helicopters. There was serious consideration of chartering a private helicopter 
and spreading poison gas in New York City, near the financial center - where 
'all the Jews were.'"

The detective pointed out that dispersal of sarin via a helicopter would 
probably be an extremely poor delivery system. The detective explained, "If you 
try and think of their plans rationally, it makes no sense, but Ashara believed 
himself to be a prophet and the group's actions changed and shifted with his 
delusions and visions."

Tying Up Loose Ends

As it became apparent that Aum was responsible for the sarin gas attacks, every 
host country began closing down the group's operations. It was an embarrassment 
for Russia and Germany. And for certain yakuza groups, the chain of events 
resulting in the arrest of Asahara was seriously bad news. Especially for the 
Yamaguchi-gumi. It's permissible to be a ruthless bunch of tattooed gangsters 
espousing chivalry, but it's entirely unacceptable to be an accomplice to 
indiscriminate mass murder.

During the period leading up to the sarin gas attacks, when Aum Shinrikyo was 
making methamphetamines to raise money, it used its former Yamaguchi-gumi 
members to connect to the Yamaguchi-gumi organization, primarily the militant 
Goto-gumi faction (led by Tadamasa Goto). Soon it was wholesaling drugs, 
weapons, and powerful mini-incinerators to yakuza or their associates. One 
small scale incinerator was used by serial killer Gen Sekine and his wife to 
burn the bodies of their victims. The Goto-gumi, through front companies, also 
did a series of real estate transactions with the cult. The yakuza profited 
from their transactions and also played a role in silencing dissent and 
complaints in the areas where Aum set up their facilities.

"The elimination of Murai effectively closed many avenues of the 
investigation."

Hideo Murai, who had been in charge of designing the cult's chemical weapons, 
also was one of the chief liaisons to the Yamaguchi-gumi and Tadamasa Goto. As 
the investigation progressed and the yakuza organization feared its connections 
to the group would be made public, it apparently decided that Murai would have 
to go. On April 23, 1995, in front of a crowd of reporters outside Aum's Tokyo 
headquarters, Jo Hiroyuki, a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, stabbed Murai 
multiple times. He died a few days later.

At first Hiroyuki, who did not flee the scene, insisted that although he was a 
Japanese of South Korean descent, he was also a right-wing Japanese nationalist 
and acted on his own. Later, at his trial, he said he was ordered to make the 
hit by Kenji Kamimine, a senior leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi Hane-gumi - and 
promised a great promotion if he did it. Kamamine was never convicted for his 
part, if he played a part, in the murder. Even the Japanese courts handling the 
case noted, "There are many details behind the killing of Murai that are 
unclear."

The elimination of Murai effectively closed many avenues of the investigation. 
It should be noted that Hiroyuki, after being released from prison, went to 
work for Goto. While Goto is allegedly a buddhist monk, he is still running a 
criminal empire in Cambodia, according to U.S. authorities. Karma doesn't catch 
up with everyone.

Many other former members of the cult, possibly 1,600 by some estimates, are 
still active in the 2 splinter organizations formed after the group's 
dissolution. They are closely monitored by the police.

The Remaining Mysteries

There are many questions still surrounding Aum Shinrikyo: Why didn't the police 
stop them when they could? How deeply did they infiltrate the Japanese 
government? Why is Aum still allowed to exist today, albeit under different 
names? And of course, why did the Ministry of Justice suddenly execute 7 
members last Thursday? Why that day?

There aren't good answers to those questions - and the executions mean we may 
never really have the answers. Japan does have strong laws protecting religious 
freedom and police officers also crack jokes that if Aum is banned completely, 
the Public Security cops will have nothing to do and be unable to justify their 
budget. There is probably a grain of truth in that.

"There are 6 more members of Aum Shinrikyo on death row."

As to the timing of the executions, Nikkan Gendai, an evening paper, had a 
cynical answer to the last question: the hanging of Shoko Asahara comes just as 
the Shinzo Abe administration is trying to ram through the parliament an 
unpopular bill legalizing casinos, and faces multiple scandals. Perhaps the 
Japanese government killed some death row inmates to kill debate about other 
subjects.

The night before the execution, Abe and Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa attended 
a party in Akasaka, drinking sake with other members of the Liberal Democratic 
Party in what some construed as a celebration of the coming executions. A photo 
of the grinning PM and justice minister posted on twitter by one of the party 
attendees drew heavy criticism from death penalty opponents, and even the 
general public. Comments included, "You'd think that killing 7 people wouldn't 
be something to smile about" and "I guess it's true that [in Japan] when a 
politician executes someone their support ratings rise."

Of course, there are not many voices of sympathy for the 7 executed.

There are 6 more members of Aum Shinrikyo on death row. Their final day of 
judgment will only come when the Japanese ruling party considers it politically 
expedient to execute them as well. Here in Japan, it's often the case that when 
justice is served it's also self-serving.

(source: thedaiybeast.com)