JAPAN. TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR TOKYO GAS ATTACKER

July 20, 2007: Japan's top court upheld a death sentence against a doomsday cult member who played a direct role in the fatal 1995 gassing of the Tokyo subway system. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Aum Shinrikyo cult member Masato Yokoyama, 43, upholding lower court rulings that sentenced him to death, according to court official Naoki Katayama. More than a dozen death sentences have been handed out to members of Aum Shinrikyo, but none of them have been executed under Japan's slow judicial system. (Sources: International Herald Tribune, 20/07/2007)