An Aum Shinrikyo base in Setagaya, Tokyo.

Aum has been under surveillance by the Justice Ministry's Public Security Investigation Agency since February 2000, based on a set of laws enacted in December 1999 that allow authorities to monitor "groups that have committed indiscriminate mass murder within the past 10 years."

When the three-year period of Aum surveillance expired in January 2003, it was extended for another three years as the Public Security Examination Commission determined it could not rule out the possibility that the group might commit another mass murder.

In rejecting the suit, presiding Judge Yosuke Ichimura said that indiscriminate mass murder such as the act committed by Aum caused "grave and irrecoverable damage" to people's lives, and that the law was vital to prevent a further threat to civilian lives.

The judge rejected Aum's claim that the law violates the freedom of religion of its cult members. He said that the surveillance does not interfere with the group's core activities and thus does not affect its religious activities.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 6, 2004
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