benwog@flash.net

Scientology calls Belgian police raid "witch-hunt"
By Saskia Stegeman

BRUSSELS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The Church of Scientology on Friday condemned Belgian police raids on more than a score of church-related sites, calling them "a modern-day witch-hunt."

grady@promisecreepers.org

March 21, 1995:

"The reports said several people saw the man place a plastic bag wrapped in newspaper on a train. When he got off at Kodenmacho station, a passenger kicked the object onto the platform and it began to emit white fumes. Two people died at that station."

"The motive for the attack was unclear. The Aum Shinri Kyo religious cult, previously accused of making sarin, denied any involvement and threatened to sue anyone who suggested there was a link."

March 22, 1995:

"Shinrikyo's problems have gotten steadily worse. In 1990, it sued two magazines for stories about the still-unsolved disappearance of a Yokohama attorney, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, and his wife and son. Mr. Sakamoto had been helping families trying to pry their children away from the sect, whose rituals include drinking the blood of leader Shoko Asahara."

...

"In January, Aum Shinrikyo sued a local businessman, accusing him of spreading sarin into the group's facilities in the village. The businessman has filed a countersuit."

...

"The group has issued a statement denouncing any effort to link it with the subway attack."

"To create an impression that the Aum Supreme Truth was a group that would carry out inhumane acts, we think state authorities planned this conspiracy," the group said.

"The speculation became so intense that the religious group finally called a news conference and issued a forceful assertion of its innocence."

"A lawyer for Aum Shinri Kyo noted that terrorist killing would violate the sect's basic Buddhist doctrine that killing is not permitted. Asahara holds to this rule so strongly, the sect says, that he will not even permit killing of rats or cockroaches in any of his group's facilities, including hospitals."

...

In the Wednesday raids, police officers entered the sect's headquarters in Fujinomiya, and AUM facilities in Tokyo and other places, breaking through barricades and pushing aside resisting cult members."

"The sect issued a statement accusing police of suppressing religion and saying police had ignored the sect's offer to accept voluntary questioning about the alleged abduction."

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Now, fast forward to today:

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Aum cult member to hang for gas attack Juliet
Hindell in Tokyo

10/01/1999 The Daily Telegraph

A MEMBER of the Aum Supreme Truth cult yesterday became the first person to be sentenced to death for his part in the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground system.

Masato Yokoyama, 35, was one of the five Aum members who released the nerve gas on trains in 1995 killing 12 people and making thousands ill. He carried two packets of it on to the Marunouchi line bound for Kasumigaseki, the site of Tokyo's government offices.

In court Yokoyama admitted releasing the gas on the train but said he did not realise it was fatal. However, he took the precaution of holding his breath. By chance, no one died on the train that Yokoyama took, but Judge Manabu Yamazaki said it was still a vicious crime for which his criminal responsibility was grave.

After joining the cult, Yokoyama quickly became a leading member and was part of the inner circle of its guru, Shoko Asahara.

He showed no expression as sentence was passed, but stumbled and had to be supported by his guards. His lawyers said he would appeal.

His death sentence is likely to mean that three Aum followers still on trial for their part in the attack will also face the gallows. One was jailed for life last year.

...

The sentence marked the second time capital punishment had been imposed in an Aum-related trial. Kazuaki Okazaki, 38, a former Aum member convicted of the murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family, received the death sentence in October last year. Okazaki has appealed the ruling to a high court.

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Is there anyone here so foolish as to accept the bare-faced denials of wrong-doing by the criminal cult of scientology or to believe that it is the unjust recipient of "religious persecution"?