The Tokyo High Court sentenced a former doomsday cult...

The Tokyo High Court sentenced a former doomsday cult member Yoshihiro Inoue to death for a 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways, overturning a lower court ruling condemning him to life in prison.
Inoue, 34, was one of several Aum Shinri Kyo agents accused of being directly involved in the attack, in which cult members riding five subway trains converging on the capital's government district punctured plastic bags filled with sarin nerve gas.
Tokyo High Court spokesman Koji Suwabe confirmed that Judge Toshio Yamada had sentenced Inoue to death, but could not provide further details. Inoue's lawyers immediately appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Though Inoue did not spread sarin on the train, the court found that he beared as much responsibility for the gassing as any of the attackers because as a supervisor he made sure the crimes were carried out.
The earlier lower court ruling said Inoue only served as a backup in the attack. Inoue, a close aid to former cult guru Shoko Asahara, was the 13th member of the cult to receive a death sentence.
Asahara, 49, was sentenced in February to hang for masterminding the attack and other crimes. The judge said Inoue proposed the March 21, 1995 nerve gas attack at a meeting with Asahara and several of his top lieutenants.