Hideo Murai

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Hideo Murai (村井 秀夫 Murai Hideo, December 5, 1958 - April 23, 1995) was a member of Aum Shinrikyo and a scientist.

Contents 1 Life 2 Death 3 the Unresolved 4 Circumstances surrounding Murai's death 5 Crimes

[edit] Life

Best known as head of Aum's Ministry of Science, Murai was a talented physicist and reportedly had an IQ score higher that that of Albert Einstein. As head of the team of scientists assembled by Aum Shinrikyo, he was researching a diverse and unusual range of topics, such as electromagnetic pulse, microwave weapons, artificially induced earthquakes and giant plasma weapons position on the Earth orbit. On a number of occasions Murai travelled to Eastern Europe to retrieve the papers of scientist Nikola Tesla, but discovered they were seized by the entering Allied forces at the end of WWII. Murai also travelled to US to gain access to the mentioned documents, but it is unknown whether he found the way to access anything besides the publicly available materials and if any classified Tesla works indeed exist. Reportedly, Murai was persistent in his attempts to acquire the materials by various means. He also visited Russia where he met with a number of scientists including Nobel laureate professor Nicolai G. Basov.

He was also probably involved with purchase of computer and laboratory equipment which theoretically could be used in experiments with biological substances such as viruses; it is unknown whether any of such experiments did actually bring any results and which exactly.

Murai also designed the construction of underground 'dokubo' ("retreat") chambers - small completely sealed rooms equipped with sensors measuring oxygen consumption. He also developed many of electronic devices used by Aum Shinrikyo members, such as PSI (Perfect Salvation Initiation) helmet which translated the elecromagnetic recording of brainwaves of Asahara directly into the brain of the wearer (supposedly they helped improve meditation).

[edit] Death

Murai was mortally wounded when an ethnic Korean man named Hiroyuki Jo (徐裕行 Jo Hiroyuki), a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi (a Yakuza group), stabbed Murai in the gut. The man then stabbed Murai repeatedly until he slumped onto the ground, in presence of 10 police officers and about a hundred of reporters recording the events and broadcasting them real-time. Attackers didn't attempt to flee and were peacefully arrested on the spot. Murai died in an ambulance.

[edit] the Unresolved

Immediately before the incident Murai lectured at a press conference at the facilities of the Tokyo Foreign Press Club where he announced the results of his [claimed] scientific activities at Aum. Some of the topics he spoke at length this day were as follows:

• Possibility that Kobe earthquake was caused by an electromagnetic weapon based on theories of physicist Nikola Tesla;
• Powerful microwave weapons with wide range of application on the battlefields, from annihilating the armoured enemy combatants to causing temporary mental illnesses or inducing extreme states of mind such as fear;
• 'Plasma weapon' resembling a chain of sputniks placed on the Earth's orbit emitting plasma rays that could be quickly focus to attack any moving target with a wide radius of attack, able to penetrate deeply underground, similar in design to Space Light Sail developed jointly by US and Russia later (currently completed).
• Possibility to manipulate the weather, again based on Tesla theories, causing radical climate changes.

[edit] Circumstances surrounding Murai's death

Jo and another man were charged with murder and Murai died six hours after the stabbing. Hiroyuki Jo originally claimed that his personal decision to attack Murai was a result of his anger due to the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in which many Japanese suffered and about a dozen died, but soon confessed that certain Yakuza mafia boss, who in conformity with Japan's realities is regarded as a leader of a semi-legitimate business group, ordered him to commit the murder so being yakuza member he had no choice other than to obey and comply. Following the revelations, he was soon found dead in his prison cell, reportedly suicide, reasons unknown.

When still conscious at the moving ambulance, Murai uttered probable hints at reasons for sending a hitman to assassinate him. He reportedly said just one word, 'yudaia' (i.e. Judea or the Jews), but later it was reported that the meaning might be different as the word might refer to the Star of David, an official emblem of Israel which is similar in design to the symbol of Japan's Imperial Family.

Equipment used by Murai and documents related to the research activities he performed were seized by the PSIA (Public Security Investigative Agency, Japan's equivalent to FBI) during the raids. Buildings were later bulldozed, debris removed.

[edit] Crimes

According to some of the testimonies during to trials related to a number of crimes committed by a group of Aum Shinrikyo members, Murai was also involved in the Sakamoto family murder and production of chemical gas sarin which supposedly was manufactured at his orders and under his supervision. It contradicts the theory introduced by the prosecution i.e. that Asahara was aware of and personally ordered all of the crimes, not Murai. The judge in Asahara's trial later ruled him guilty in issuing orders, thus agreeing with the prosecution. Murai couldn't participate in hearings due to his death. Some think Murai's exclusion from the process was unfortunate. It is difficult to say with certainty whether Murai's testimonies could help Asahara's defence by shedding more light on the most importaint point - whether Asahara was aware of what's going on and whether he actually ordered all of it - but judging by the ruling which admitted his role in them.

Veteran attorney Yoshihiro Yasuda, who is also a famous human rights activists, was arrested shortly after his decision to lead Asahara's defence team (acquitted shorly before the end of the trial), as a result he was defended by a team of court-appointed lawyers. Despite the verdict, many believe that the lengthy trial failed to establish the truth behind the events and efforts to explain the police failure in preventing the crime speak fuel the doubts and give food to conspiracy theories.