Three years' surveillance of the Aum Shinrikyo cult (now called Aleph) by the Public Security Investigation Agency, in accordance with the Antisubversive Activities Law, expired at the end of January. But the Public Security Examination Commission, or PSEC, has decided that surveillance should continue for another three years because the danger of Aum perpetrating an act of indiscriminate mass murder cannot be ruled out yet.

Aum appears ready to file an administrative suit to overturn the decision, arguing that continued surveillance violates freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution. The commission states that the decision on extended surveillance is not unconstitutional because it does no more than place necessary and rational restrictions on basic human rights in order to protect public welfare.

One reason cited by the PSEC for concluding that a danger still exists is that Aum still urges followers to show absolute devotion to the former leader of the cult, Chizuo Matsumoto (known in the cult as Shoko Asahara), who is now on trial in Tokyo District Court. Another reason is that Mr. Fumihiro Joyu and other senior members of the cult at the time of the 1994 sarin gas attacks in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and on the Tokyo subway in 1995, still hold top positions in the group, and that Aum sermons are said to justify past criminal conduct. Furthermore, the commission said Matsumoto still exerts what can be called absolute influence on cult members and that changes in Aum's doctrine have not become a reality.