A ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a plan to extend a law allowing surveillance of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, responsible for the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes, ahead of next month's review of the law.
The extension of the five-year law, instituted in December 1999, is being sought by the Justice Ministry's Public Security Intelligence Agency, which deems there is still a need for surveillance of Aum since the group poses a danger and its members are uncooperative with the agency.