http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Fri, 25 May 2012 04:42:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26680/former-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-who-hid-fugitive-gets-14-months http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26680/former-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-who-hid-fugitive-gets-14-months#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:07:32 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26680 The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Aum Shinrikyo member Akemi Saito to 14 months in prison Tuesday for harboring fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata for more than 14 years.

]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26680/former-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-who-hid-fugitive-gets-14-months/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26666/17th-anniversary-of-aums-subway-gas-attack-commemorated http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26666/17th-anniversary-of-aums-subway-gas-attack-commemorated#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:33:44 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26666 Tokyo subway officials commemorated the 17th anniversary of Aum Shinrikyo's deadly 1995 sarin gas attack Tuesday at Kasumigaseki Station.

It is one of the subway stations where members of the cult released the deadly nerve agent on March 20, 1995, killing 13 people and sickening more than 6,000 others.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26666/17th-anniversary-of-aums-subway-gas-attack-commemorated/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26624/woman-who-sheltered-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-faces-prison-term http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26624/woman-who-sheltered-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-faces-prison-term#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:11:41 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26624 A woman who harbored Aum Shinrikyo cult member Makoto Hirata for 17 years faces a two-year prison term.

Akemi Saito, herself a former member of the cult, pled guilty in court Tuesday to sheltering the former fugitive. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26624/woman-who-sheltered-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-faces-prison-term/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26570/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-indicted-on-fresh-charges http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26570/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-indicted-on-fresh-charges#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:57:13 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26570 Prosecutors in Japan have indicted Makoto Hirata, a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, on fresh charges of involvement in a blast at a Tokyo condominium and the throwing of a firebomb into the group's Tokyo headquarters in 1995.

The attacks were staged in a bid to disrupt police investigations into the cult.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26570/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cult-member-indicted-on-fresh-charges/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26507/japanese-security-agency-inspects-aum-cult-splinter-groups-facilities http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26507/japanese-security-agency-inspects-aum-cult-splinter-groups-facilities#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:16:59 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26507
Security officials believe the group is still under the influence of cult founder Shoko Asahara, who is on death row for a series of AUM crimes.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26507/japanese-security-agency-inspects-aum-cult-splinter-groups-facilities/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26493/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cultist-faces-fresh-arrest-warrant-over-bombing http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26493/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cultist-faces-fresh-arrest-warrant-over-bombing#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:06:44 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26493 Former AUM Shinrikyo cult member Makoto Hirata, 46, arrested for kidnapping, will be served a fresh arrest warrant as early as Jan. 31 for alleged involvement in a 1995 bombing in Tokyo.

Meanwhile another former Aum Shinikyo cult member was charged with harboring Hirata while knowing he was a fugitive.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26493/ex-aum-shinrikyo-cultist-faces-fresh-arrest-warrant-over-bombing/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26491/aum-shinrikyo-to-remain-under-surveillance-for-another-3-years http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26491/aum-shinrikyo-to-remain-under-surveillance-for-another-3-years#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:16 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26491 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26491/aum-shinrikyo-to-remain-under-surveillance-for-another-3-years/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26452/aum-shinikyo-cult-member-charged-with-kidnapping-and-confinement http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26452/aum-shinikyo-cult-member-charged-with-kidnapping-and-confinement#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:34:15 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26452 A senior member of Aum Shinrikyo -- the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways -- has been charged in a kidnapping case, one of dozens of cult-related crimes in the 1990s.

Prosecutors charged Makoto Hirata with "unlawful capture" and confinement Friday in connection with the fatal abduction of a lawyer.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26452/aum-shinikyo-cult-member-charged-with-kidnapping-and-confinement/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26429/ex-cultist-arrested-for-harboring-aums-hirata http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26429/ex-cultist-arrested-for-harboring-aums-hirata#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:39:54 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26429 A former AUM Shinrikyo follower who turned herself in to Tokyo police early Tuesday was arrested later in the day on suspicion of harboring Makoto Hirata -- a former senior member of the cult, who was apprehended on New Year's Day after surrendering to the police.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26429/ex-cultist-arrested-for-harboring-aums-hirata/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26425/aum-shinrikyo-cult-leader-shoko-asahara-to-be-grilled-over-hirata-slaying-role http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26425/aum-shinrikyo-cult-leader-shoko-asahara-to-be-grilled-over-hirata-slaying-role#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:30:49 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=26425 Japanese investigators are set to question Aum Shinrikyo guru Shoko Asahara over the role Makoto Hirata, a former member of the cult who turned himself in to Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Dec. 31 after 17 years on the run, played in the abduction and death of a Tokyo notary office clerk in 1995, sources said Monday.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26425/aum-shinrikyo-cult-leader-shoko-asahara-to-be-grilled-over-hirata-slaying-role/feed 0