Shoko Asahara , born Chizuo Matsumoto , was a Japanese cult leader and terrorist who founded and led the doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway which killed 14 people and injured thousands more, and was also involved in several other assassinations and terrorist attacks. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and his final appeal failed in 2011. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum members. He was ultimately executed along with other senior members of Aum Shinrikyo on July 6, 2018.