Shoko Asahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto), founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was executed by hanging in Japan on July 6, 2018, along with six of his followers. The executions closed a long, high-profile legal chapter that began with a campaign of violence carried out by Aum in the late 1980s and 1990s, most infamously the March 20, 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 13 people and injured thousands. Asahara and many top Aum members were arrested in the years following the subway attack and other incidents, and were tried on multiple charges including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and the production and use of chemical weapons. After lengthy and complex legal proceedings, the Supreme Court of Japan upheld death sentences for Asahara and several close associates. The executions on July 6, 2018, were carried out in accordance with Japanese law, which provides capital punishment for certain serious crimes; Japan is one of the few developed nations that retains and applies the death penalty. The decision to execute Asahara and his followers prompted varied reactions domestically and internationally. Survivors and families of victims in Japan often expressed relief that those responsible had been held to account. Human rights groups and some international observers reiterated long-standing criticisms of Japan’s use of capital punishment and raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of death-penalty procedures, including the secrecy that typically surrounds executions in Japan. Aum Shinrikyo itself had been a secretive and hierarchical organization that combined elements of Buddhist, Hindu, and apocalyptic beliefs under Asahara’s leadership. The cult recruited educated young people and established facilities for training, research, and covert operations. Investigations revealed that Aum developed chemical agents, produced lethal sarin, and planned and carried out multiple violent acts beyond the subway attack, including assassinations and poisonings. Following the arrests and convictions, Japanese authorities seized and dismantled many of Aum’s facilities. The group fragmented, and successor organizations and splinter groups later emerged under different names; the main organization has been monitored and restricted by authorities. Legal and civil processes also followed: victims and their families pursued compensation, while authorities and scholars studied the social, legal, and regulatory failures that allowed a violent cult to grow and operate. The execution of Asahara marked an endpoint in the criminal prosecutions but did not end public and scholarly debate about Aum’s origins, the conditions that enabled its rise, or Japan’s criminal-justice policies. Researchers and commentators have examined factors such as social isolation, mistrust in institutions, charismatic leadership, and lapses in regulatory oversight as contributing to the cult’s ability to recruit members and stockpile weapons. Asahara’s execution is recorded in Japan’s recent history of domestic terrorism and remains a reference point in discussions about legal accountability, victims’ rights, and the ethics and efficacy of capital punishment. While the court sentences concluded criminal liability for key figures, survivors and communities affected by Aum’s crimes continue to contend with long-term physical, psychological, and social consequences.