Tokyo court strikes down gov't surveillance of AUM splinter group 'Hikari no Wa'

The renewal of government surveillance on doomsday cult AUM Shinrikyo splinter group "Hikari no Wa" (The Circle of Rainbow Light) was struck down by the Tokyo District Court on Sept. 25.

The surveillance orders were issued for the "Aleph" and "Hikari no Wa" groups -- the latter led by a former AUM executive Fumihiro Joyu -- that branched off from the AUM Shinrikyo cult, under the Act on the Control of Organizations Which Have Committed Acts of Indiscriminate Mass Murder. AUM Shinrikyo carried out the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

Aleph and Hikari no Wa had brought separate lawsuits against the government, claiming that the 2015 renewal of the surveillance order under the law was unreasonable. The court sided with Hikari no Wa, deeming the renewal illegal. Aleph's suit, however, was dismissed.

"Hikari no Wa rejects absolute devotion to sect founder and death-row inmate Chizuo Matsumoto, and is substantially different in nature from Aleph, which still calls for deep devotion," said Presiding Judge Toshiyuki Hayashi in the court's decision. "It is hard to see both groups as belonging to the same organization."