The Tokyo High Court today upheld a death penalty for a former doomsday cult member convicted in attacks including the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gassing that killed 12 people, a court official said.

The Japanese former cult leader sentenced to die for a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo underground rail network might be faking insanity to avoid the gallows, said a psychiatric report released today.

Psychiatrists have concluded a former cult leader sentenced to die for the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo underground rail system is mentally fit to stand trial if his appeal goes ahead, a court official said today.

A CHEMIST was convicted and sentenced to death yesterday for leading efforts by a doomsday cult to develop the nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subways that killed 12 people, a court official said.

Prosecutors are demanding the death penalty for a former doomsday cult leader who allegedly released deadly nerve gas in Tokyo's subways.