https://www.scmp.com/rss/326690/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Julian Ryall Julian Ryall Representatives of the Unification Church, the controversial South Korea-founded religious group that became a political flashpoint in Japan after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, are set to return to court on Wednesday as judges consider whether to strip it of its legal status. The Tokyo High Court is widely expected to uphold a lower court’s order to dissolve the organisation, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in a ruling that... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3345196/unification-church-faces-uphill-task-japan-fight-courts-liquidation-ruling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3345196/unification-church-faces-uphill-task-japan-fight-courts-liquidation-ruling?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:00:26 +0000 Ushar Daniele Ushar Daniele Malaysia’s home minister has urged senior clerics to lodge formal complaints over claims that a mysterious South Korean Christian “cult movement” has been attempting to spread its teachings among Malaysian Muslims. The controversy surfaced after religious leaders in Perlis – a conservative northern state where Muslims form the overwhelming majority – reported that a South Korean group had been proselytising there under the banner of a peace initiative. Malaysia is a multi-faith nation but Islam... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336190/malaysian-religious-leaders-urged-provide-evidence-south-korean-cult?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336190/malaysian-religious-leaders-urged-provide-evidence-south-korean-cult?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2025 06:40:34 +0000 Kyodo Kyodo Lawyers helping victims of the Unification Church’s aggressive donation solicitation practices in Japan said on Thursday that an arbitration had been concluded, ordering the church to pay a total of more than 50 million yen (US$340,000) in damages to three former believers in their eighties – the first such agreement between the two parties. The arbitration case filed with the Tokyo District Court was one of over 180 cases brought by victims seeking around 6 billion yen over the issue, which... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3327704/japanese-court-orders-unification-church-pay-us340000-3-over-donations-scam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3327704/japanese-court-orders-unification-church-pay-us340000-3-over-donations-scam?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Oct 2025 01:42:43 +0000 Julian Ryall Julian Ryall The widow of a man killed when followers of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 has warned that a son of the founder of the apocalyptic religious group intends to resurrect its operations and ambitions. Shizue Takahashi also cautioned that public memory of the attack – which killed 14 people and left 5,000 others needing treatment for exposure to the nerve agent – is fading in Japan, making it easier for Shoko Asahara’s son to reassert control and rebuild... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3319422/japan-fears-grow-aum-shinrikyo-death-cults-revival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3319422/japan-fears-grow-aum-shinrikyo-death-cults-revival?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Jul 2025 00:00:08 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Indian villagers beat a family of five to death and dumped their corpses in a lake, accusing them of “practising witchcraft” after the death of a boy, police said on Tuesday. Three people have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, police in the northern state of Bihar said in a statement. Three women – including a 75-year-old – were among those murdered. The main accused believed that his son’s recent death was caused by one of those killed, and blamed “him and his family of practising... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3317427/indian-villagers-beat-family-five-death-over-witchcraft-accusation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3317427/indian-villagers-beat-family-five-death-over-witchcraft-accusation?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:08:26 +0000 The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court on Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. The church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo District Court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets. The order followed a request by Japan’s Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3303784/japan-court-orders-unification-church-dissolved-after-shinzo-abe-assassination-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3303784/japan-court-orders-unification-church-dissolved-after-shinzo-abe-assassination-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Mar 2025 07:46:53 +0000 Just as she has done on the anniversary of her husband’s death for the last 29 years, Shizue Takahashi will on Thursday morning take a rush-hour subway train to Kasumigaseki Station in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. There, she will pay her respects with a small knot of station staff, police, survivors and relatives of people who died when followers of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin nerve gas on the city’s subway system. Takahashi’s husband, Kazumasa, was senior station master at Kasumigaseki,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3302959/30-years-victims-aum-shinrikyos-sarin-attack-tokyo-subway-still-traumatised?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3302959/30-years-victims-aum-shinrikyos-sarin-attack-tokyo-subway-still-traumatised?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Mar 2025 10:30:08 +0000 The Unification Church has come under intense scrutiny in Japan since a former prime minister was assassinated, but it could soon fall even further from grace. Authorities said in October 2023 they were seeking to dissolve the influential sect, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the “Moonies” after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon. The church is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members – although it has denied any... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3302505/controversial-unification-church-may-be-dissolved-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3302505/controversial-unification-church-may-be-dissolved-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Mar 2025 05:39:09 +0000 A judge jailed 14 members of a fringe Australian religious group on Wednesday over the “slow and painful” death of an eight-year-old diabetic girl who was denied life-saving insulin. The father and mother of Elizabeth Rose Struhs, as well as the leader and other members of the Saints sect, were convicted of manslaughter last month in the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane. The small, home-based church in the Queensland city of Toowoomba held a “core belief” in the healing power of God, leaving... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3300243/australia-jails-14-sect-members-over-slow-and-painful-death-girl-8?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3300243/australia-jails-14-sect-members-over-slow-and-painful-death-girl-8?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Feb 2025 10:39:11 +0000 Police have found 12 corpses allegedly being used for black magic rituals at a cult retreat in Thailand’s remote Kamphaeng Phet province. Thai police quoted black magic gurus at the Siri Chan Forest Monastery as claiming the dead bodies gave worshippers supernatural powers. https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3287791/police-horrified-uncover-12-bodies-linked-black-magic-cult-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3287791/police-horrified-uncover-12-bodies-linked-black-magic-cult-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Nov 2024 11:51:15 +0000 Malaysia’s religious affairs authority on Thursday accused a conglomerate under investigation for child abuse and money laundering of deploying “elements of slavery” in the way it operates its businesses. Nooh Gadot, an official at the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs, said this was among the reasons why the teachings and beliefs propagated by GISB have been declared deviant, as he urged Muslims to shun the group. Police in September raided care homes run by Global Ikhwan Services... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3286611/malaysias-religious-authority-accuses-firm-child-abuse-probe-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3286611/malaysias-religious-authority-accuses-firm-child-abuse-probe-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:25:19 +0000 Many academics and writers have sought to understand why America has become a “nation of cults” over the years. “Some pundits are quick to blame the 1960s counterculture for spawning interest in outlandish religious doctrines”, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1997. “Others blame television and the internet.” Whatever the reason, it seems no one is immune – not even celebrities. Thanks to their fame, however, we get to hear the stories of how they escaped. Read... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3283891/8-hollywood-celebrities-who-have-been-cults-joaquin-phoenix-and-one-tree-hills-bethany-joy-lenz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3283891/8-hollywood-celebrities-who-have-been-cults-joaquin-phoenix-and-one-tree-hills-bethany-joy-lenz?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Oct 2024 21:00:09 +0000 A Malaysian court on Wednesday charged 22 people linked to a banned cult with being members of an organised crime group after allegations that the company they were from oversaw the systematic abuse of hundreds of children at its facilities. Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) hit the headlines in September over accusations of widespread sexual and physical abuse of minors, slavery and tax evasion at its facilities in Malaysia. Local media has reported that the group, which has... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3283500/malaysian-court-charges-22-people-cult-group-linked-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3283500/malaysian-court-charges-22-people-cult-group-linked-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:30:14 +0000 Asia, home to billions and a multitude of faiths, is a fertile breeding ground for shamans, spiritualists, cults, and sects that exist outside formal religions. While some of these groups promote harmless beliefs, others propagate dubious or even dangerous doctrines. From India’s array of homespun gurus to the Philippines’ doomsday cults and the many self-proclaimed reincarnations of the Buddha in Thailand, many claim healing abilities and unique connections to the divine – often at a cost. With... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3280291/asias-fascination-cults-singapore-deities-japans-sarin-gas-killers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3280291/asias-fascination-cults-singapore-deities-japans-sarin-gas-killers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Sep 2024 04:30:08 +0000 Celebration Mall had stood empty for years until new owners with grand ambitions swept in 24 years ago. Soon, the derelict shopping centre – nestled in the Bandar Country Homes neighbourhood of Rawang, Malaysia – was reborn into a bustling business hub replete with restaurants, shops, a bakery and even a maternity clinic. The transformation breathed new life into an area that had been losing its lustre in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. A sense of community returned. Families did too.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3280290/gisb-unmasking-shadowy-sect-behind-malaysias-worst-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3280290/gisb-unmasking-shadowy-sect-behind-malaysias-worst-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2024 00:00:15 +0000 Malaysians have been left in a state of disbelief over the past two weeks, as police revealed shocking revelations of systemic abuse of children allegedly at the hands of a cult-linked company that had been operating for years in the country. As of Monday, police said they had rescued more than 550 children from welfare homes and religious schools allegedly run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) across the peninsula, acting on information gathered from surveillance on the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3280040/malaysia-owes-it-young-victims-cult-linked-group-start-healing-process?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3280040/malaysia-owes-it-young-victims-cult-linked-group-start-healing-process?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2024 02:30:09 +0000 Some of the fathers linked to the Islamic company at the centre of a massive child sex probe had dozens of children by multiple wives – many of them living in care homes where the alleged abuse took place, Malaysia’s police chief said on Monday. Police have raided dozens of premises, including charity homes, businesses and religious schools believed to be owned or linked to wealthy Islamic company Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH). More than 500 people have been arrested so... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3279642/malaysia-sex-abuse-scandal-members-islamic-firm-had-multiple-wives-children-police-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3279642/malaysia-sex-abuse-scandal-members-islamic-firm-had-multiple-wives-children-police-say?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2024 10:45:27 +0000 Malaysian police on Thursday arrested the chief executive of a company allegedly linked to a cult that is under investigation over accusations of physical and sexual abuse involving hundreds of children. Police said over 400 boys and girls, aged between one and 17, were rescued during raids last week on welfare homes allegedly run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. When contacted, police chief Razarudin Husain confirmed to This Week in Asia... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3279177/malaysian-police-arrest-ceo-company-accused-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3279177/malaysian-police-arrest-ceo-company-accused-child-sex-abuse-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Sep 2024 10:47:03 +0000 Global Ikhwan group, the company at the centre of a child sex case which has shocked Malaysia, on Thursday denied allegations of abuse of hundreds of minors, saying it did not manage the shelters where the alleged attacks took place and accusing Malaysian police of defamatory action on its business. Malaysian police on Wednesday said they rescued 402 boys and girls, aged between one and 17, from the homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan they believed to be owned by the group where the victims... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3278277/malaysian-firm-linked-islamic-sect-denies-allegations-child-sex-abuse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3278277/malaysian-firm-linked-islamic-sect-denies-allegations-child-sex-abuse?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:40:27 +0000 The leader of a Kenyan starvation sect went on trial on Monday for manslaughter over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects pleaded not guilty in January to multiple counts of manslaughter, one of several cases against them over what is known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”. Mackenzie appeared in a magistrate’s court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3274224/kenyas-starvation-cult-leader-goes-trial-manslaughter-over-mass-deaths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3274224/kenyas-starvation-cult-leader-goes-trial-manslaughter-over-mass-deaths?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Aug 2024 11:25:05 +0000 The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult went on trial on Monday on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the country and the world. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants. Journalists were removed from the courtroom shortly after the start of the hearing to enable a protected witness to take the stand. Mackenzie, who was arrested in April last... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3269629/kenya-cult-leader-faces-terrorism-charges-after-400-killed-shakahola-forest-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3269629/kenya-cult-leader-faces-terrorism-charges-after-400-killed-shakahola-forest-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jul 2024 10:13:05 +0000 Monday marks two years since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot, while issues related to the Unification Church and the plight of “second-generation” members of religious groups that drew attention afterward remain unsolved. Many mourners visited a flower-laying table set at the site where Japan’s longest-serving prime minister was shot in Nara, western Japan, on July 8, 2022, at the age of 67, by a man allegedly using a home-made gun during an election campaign... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3269615/2-years-after-abes-shooting-japan-second-generation-unification-church-members-struggling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3269615/2-years-after-abes-shooting-japan-second-generation-unification-church-members-struggling?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jul 2024 09:19:22 +0000 Kenyan authorities on Tuesday began releasing the bodies of victims of a doomsday starvation cult to distraught relatives, almost a year since the discovery of mass graves in a grisly case that shocked the world. One tearful family received four bodies that were loaded into a hearse from a morgue in the Indian Ocean town of Malindi, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. They are the first bodies to be handed over to their relatives for burial after months of painstaking work to identify them... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3256834/families-shed-tears-relief-first-kenya-cult-massacre-bodies-released?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3256834/families-shed-tears-relief-first-kenya-cult-massacre-bodies-released?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:31:53 +0000 A Kenyan court on Tuesday charged the leader of a starvation cult and dozens of suspected accomplices with murdering nearly 200 children in a forest near the Indian Ocean. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who has already been charged with terrorism, manslaughter as well as child torture and cruelty, is alleged to have incited hundreds of his acolytes to starve to death to “meet Jesus”. On Tuesday, Mackenzie and 29 other suspects pleaded not guilty to 191 counts of murder, including... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3251150/kenya-cult-leader-who-incited-followers-starve-death-meet-jesus-charged-191-counts-murder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3251150/kenya-cult-leader-who-incited-followers-starve-death-meet-jesus-charged-191-counts-murder?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Feb 2024 10:23:57 +0000 It didn’t take long for the aliens to reveal themselves. Thailand’s first UFO music festival hadn’t even started when a shimmering vessel sailed through the twilight sky over a hilltop that’s become a transdimensional conduit for representatives of a galaxy-spanning alien federation. At least that’s the fast-held belief of those who trek to Khao Kala, where devotees believe an ancient stargate makes such encounters possible. As the sun dipped towards the sugar cane-field horizon on January 12,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3249062/thailand-hosts-ufo-music-festival-city-cult-claims-area-51-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3249062/thailand-hosts-ufo-music-festival-city-cult-claims-area-51-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:54:54 +0000 Lynn Farah Lynn Farah The newly released Netflix documentary series Escaping Twin Flames has brought a fresh wave of global attention to the Twin Flames Universe (TFU), a controversial community headed by Jeff and Shaleia Ayan, aka Jeff and Shaleia Divine, that some have classified as a cult. The Michigan-based couple have convinced their followers that, in exchange for money, they can help them find their one true love, their “twin flame”. The docuseries, which began streaming on November 8, is the latest in a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3244191/what-happened-jeff-and-shaleia-divine-their-love-cult-features-netflix-docuseries-escaping-twin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3244191/what-happened-jeff-and-shaleia-divine-their-love-cult-features-netflix-docuseries-escaping-twin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2023 20:00:11 +0000 The religious and business practices of a controversial South Korean Christian church sect in Fiji are under scrutiny by authorities, with its leaders facing deportation over charges they have abused and exploited their members. The suspects from Grace Road Church (GRC), which has established itself in business chains across the Pacific island nation, were given a reprieve last week by Fiji’s High Court, which ruled they should be allowed to stay in the country, for now. Sentiments regarding GRC... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3242247/south-korean-cult-fiji-grace-road-church-business-practices-under-scrutiny-over-forced-labour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3242247/south-korean-cult-fiji-grace-road-church-business-practices-under-scrutiny-over-forced-labour?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:30:14 +0000 On the last morning of his life, Shinzo Abe arrived in the Japanese city of Nara, famous for its ancient pagodas and sacred deer. His destination was more prosaic: a broad urban intersection across from the city’s main railway station, where he would be giving a speech to endorse a lawmaker running for re-election to the National Diet, Japan’s parliament. Abe had retired two years earlier, but because he was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, his name carried enormous weight. The date was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3237666/shinzo-abe-assassination-true-power-japan-cult-alleged-killer-says-he-really-targeted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3237666/shinzo-abe-assassination-true-power-japan-cult-alleged-killer-says-he-really-targeted?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Oct 2023 23:15:09 +0000 Japanese lawmakers on Friday filed a request with the Tokyo District Court to formally disband the controversial Unification Church after about a year of investigation, even as the religious organisation vowed to fight the request and “make our legal claims in court”. If the court backs the government’s request, the church – whose formal name is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – will lose its legal status as a religious corporation and be deprived of tax benefits. But the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3237874/unification-church-accuses-japan-bias-vows-fight-disbandment-looms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3237874/unification-church-accuses-japan-bias-vows-fight-disbandment-looms?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Oct 2023 10:19:18 +0000 High-ranking members of South Korea’s “Grace Road Cult” will be kicked out of Fiji, immigration authorities said on Thursday, as the government cracks down on the powerful religious sect. Grace Road Church founder Shin Ok-ju prophesied that South Korea would be doomed by famine and disaster, persuading hundreds of followers in 2014 to start a new life in tropical Fiji. The movement quickly established political and commercial clout in its new home, snapping up swathes of agricultural land and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3233715/fiji-cracks-down-south-korean-cult-accused-violent-rituals-deport-top-members?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3233715/fiji-cracks-down-south-korean-cult-accused-violent-rituals-deport-top-members?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Sep 2023 07:50:20 +0000 The Japanese government is considering pursuing a court order to disband the contentious Unification Church, which has been at the centre of a political scandal since the killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, a government source said Sunday. If the evidence and victims’ testimonies gathered so far are deemed adequate, a request for the group to disband could be filed with the Tokyo District Court as soon as October, following a meeting of the government’s religious organisation... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3233270/japan-government-mulls-dissolving-unification-church-following-scandals-and-shinzo-abe-killing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3233270/japan-government-mulls-dissolving-unification-church-following-scandals-and-shinzo-abe-killing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Sep 2023 12:19:38 +0000 A US mother with “doomsday” religious beliefs was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for murdering two of her children and conspiring to kill her husband’s ex-wife. Lori Vallow had been found guilty in May over the deaths of her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and adopted seven-year-old son Joshua “JJ” Vallow. “You are sentenced to the custody of the State Board of Corrections to serve the maximum allowed sentence … life imprisonment with no possibility of parole,” said Judge... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3229557/doomsday-cult-mum-sentenced-life-murdering-children-and-romantic-rival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3229557/doomsday-cult-mum-sentenced-life-murdering-children-and-romantic-rival?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Jul 2023 23:13:16 +0000 The death toll in an investigation linked to a Kenyan cult that practised starvation has climbed to 201, as search teams on Saturday unearthed 22 more bodies from a coastal forest, a government official said. Police believe most of the bodies found in a forest near the Indian Ocean town of Malindi belong to followers of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a taxi driver-turned-preacher who is accused of inciting them to starve to death “to meet Jesus”. Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha, who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3220478/death-toll-kenya-starvation-cult-exceeds-200-authorities-unearth-22-more-bodies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3220478/death-toll-kenya-starvation-cult-exceeds-200-authorities-unearth-22-more-bodies?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 May 2023 18:10:01 +0000 An Idaho jury on Friday convicted Lori Vallow Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophecies and illicit affairs. Vallow Daybell, who wore a simple black dress, showed no expression as the verdict was read. Some in the courtroom gallery wiped tears from their eyes. Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3220421/us-doomsday-cult-mum-lori-vallow-daybell-convicted-murdering-her-two-children-and-romantic-rival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3220421/us-doomsday-cult-mum-lori-vallow-daybell-convicted-murdering-her-two-children-and-romantic-rival?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 May 2023 20:03:28 +0000 Autopsies carried out on dozens of bodies found in mass graves linked to a Kenyan cult that practised starvation have found that some of the victims were strangled, beaten or suffocated, the authorities said. The discovery of mass graves last month near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi has shocked Kenyans, with children accounting for more than half of the 109 victims who were allegedly incited to starve to death by self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie. Experts carried out 30... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3219262/autopsies-kenya-starvation-cult-case-found-some-victims-were-strangled-beaten-or-suffocated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3219262/autopsies-kenya-starvation-cult-case-found-some-victims-were-strangled-beaten-or-suffocated?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 May 2023 09:55:16 +0000 A Kenyan pastor who appeared in court on Tuesday will face terrorism charges over the deaths of more than 100 people found buried in what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre,” prosecutors said. The deeply religious Christian-majority country has been stunned by the discovery of mass graves last month in a forest near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who set up the Good News International Church in 2003, is accused of inciting... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3219144/kenyan-pastor-face-terrorism-charges-over-shakahola-forest-massacre-killed-109-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3219144/kenyan-pastor-face-terrorism-charges-over-shakahola-forest-massacre-killed-109-people?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2023 10:35:07 +0000 The leader of a Kenyan cult told his followers the world would end on April 15 and instructed them to starve themselves to be the first to go to heaven, a relative of cult members and hospital staff told Reuters. The number of victims linked to the Good News International Church in Kenya climbed to 98 on Wednesday as weeping relatives anxiously awaited news of loved ones after investigators unearthed mass graves last week. The deaths amount to one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218531/kenyan-cult-leader-told-followers-starve-themselves-ahead-worlds-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218531/kenyan-cult-leader-told-followers-starve-themselves-ahead-worlds-end?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Apr 2023 04:13:14 +0000 Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation, bringing the number of victims so far to 89 including children. There are fears more corpses could be found in Shakahola forest where cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge had allegedly been telling his followers that starvation was the only path to God. Children are among the latest victims of the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, with search teams in white overalls still... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218337/kenya-starvation-cult-massacre-toll-climbs-89?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218337/kenya-starvation-cult-massacre-toll-climbs-89?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:34:08 +0000 Twenty-one bodies have been exhumed in Kenya while investigating a cult whose followers are believed to have starved themselves to death, police sources said on Saturday, warning the toll could rise. Officials had earlier reported seven deaths in eastern Kenya in connection with the arrest of Makenzie Nthenge, a pastor who reportedly told followers to starve themselves to “meet Jesus”. “In total since yesterday, we have 21 bodies,” a police source told Agence France-Presse on condition of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218019/kenya-police-exhume-21-bodies-including-3-children-during-investigation-religious-cult?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3218019/kenya-police-exhume-21-bodies-including-3-children-during-investigation-religious-cult?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Apr 2023 20:40:57 +0000 A study by a major Buddhist temple in Tokyo has revealed a growing distrust of religion in Japan, a trend analysts suggest is the consequence of religious cults that have in the past used violence to advance their aims – and the more recent scandal surrounding the infiltration of politics by the Unification Church. A knock-on effect of this loss of faith, they say, will be the inevitable weakening of Komeito, the junior partner to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3217461/japan-losing-its-religion-cults-unification-church-scandal-seen-driving-rising-distrust?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3217461/japan-losing-its-religion-cults-unification-church-scandal-seen-driving-rising-distrust?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Apr 2023 01:31:19 +0000 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday instructed his culture minister to launch a probe into the controversial Unification Church, reversing his initial decision amid a plunge in support for his Cabinet to its lowest level since he took office last year. With the probe, the Unification Church could face losing its status as a religious corporation, depriving it of tax benefits although it would still be able to operate as an entity. Revelations about the way the group has encouraged... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3196188/japan-pm-kishida-probe-unification-church-reverses-policy-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3196188/japan-pm-kishida-probe-unification-church-reverses-policy-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Oct 2022 03:08:55 +0000 Netflix brings a new entry to its ever-growing true crime genre with Sins of Our Mother released on September 14. The three-part docuseries tells the story of “Doomsday Mum” Lori Vallow Daybell who was accused and charged for the deaths of her two children. She was also charged for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow. The case made headlines back in 2019 when Lori refused to work with the police to find her missing children for months,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3193018/where-lori-vallow-daybell-sins-our-mother-now-netflixs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3193018/where-lori-vallow-daybell-sins-our-mother-now-netflixs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Sep 2022 11:00:07 +0000 Scores of parents in Cambodia have urged the government to help bring back their children camping at a farmhouse owned by a politician-turned-doomsday prophet amid concerns they had been indoctrinated. Khem Veasna, head of the League for Democracy Party (LDP), claimed a devastating flood could wipe out humanity on August 30, and called on his supporters to take refuge at his mountainside plantation in Siem Reap province. More than 20,000 followers, including teenagers and Cambodians working in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3191658/cambodian-teens-are-camping-out-cult-leader-their-parents-want?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3191658/cambodian-teens-are-camping-out-cult-leader-their-parents-want?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Sep 2022 08:44:11 +0000 The assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe created shock waves throughout Japan and the rest of the world. The news had a particularly profound effect among religious organisations originating from South Korea, given the late premier’s connections to the Unification Church. Those organisations are called “fringe churches” because it is thought they “systematically and deliberately force religious gaslighting” on followers, according to Tark Ji-il, a professor at Busan... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3187140/church-or-cult-abe-murder-spotlights-unification-church?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3187140/church-or-cult-abe-murder-spotlights-unification-church?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jul 2022 05:00:20 +0000 For those not yet aware, Jesus Christ is buried in Japan. Yes, the Son of God flees Judea around AD33, leaving his brother, “Isukiri”, crucified in his place, and with another brother’s ears and a lock of his mother’s hair as mementos, our fugitive Lord and Saviour sets out for the far-flung Japanese archipelago, where he settles in Herai, Mutsu province (now Shingo, Aomori prefecture), becomes a rice farmer, marries, sires three children, and dies aged 106. The legend is commemorated in the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3158158/japans-history-religion-shinto-and-buddhism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3158158/japans-history-religion-shinto-and-buddhism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Dec 2021 23:50:09 +0000 A court imposed Panama’s maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Friday on seven members of a cult who killed a woman and six children in a religious rite in a remote part of the Central American nation. The court in Bocas del Toro province sentenced two other members of the New Light of God cult to 47 years in prison each. The cult had operated for about three years in the Ngabe Bugle hamlet of El Terron on Panama’s Caribbean coast, but villagers said it had changed after one member had a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3158440/cult-killers-sentenced-50-year-prison-terms-panama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3158440/cult-killers-sentenced-50-year-prison-terms-panama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Dec 2021 22:51:42 +0000 A Turkish court on Monday sentenced a Muslim televangelist who surrounded himself with scantily clad women he called “kittens” to more than 1,000 years in jail for sex crimes. Adnan Oktar preached creationism and conservative values while women in revealing outfits – many of whom appeared to have had plastic surgery – danced around him to upbeat music in the TV studio. The bearded 64-year-old was detained in 2018 along with more than 200 other suspects as part of a crackdown on his group by the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3117368/turkey-sentences-sex-cult-leader-over-1000-years-jail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3117368/turkey-sentences-sex-cult-leader-over-1000-years-jail?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Jan 2021 05:45:52 +0000 Disgraced self-improvement guru Keith Raniere, whose NXIVM followers included millionaires and Hollywood actors, was sentenced to 120 years on Tuesday for turning some adherents into sex slaves branded with his initials. US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis handed down the sentence in federal court in Brooklyn after a lengthy hearing featuring statements by victims of a sex-trafficking conspiracy that resulted in Raniere’s conviction last year. Prosecutors had sought life in prison while defence... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3107319/nxivm-sex-cult-head-keith-raniere-sentenced-120?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3107319/nxivm-sex-cult-head-keith-raniere-sentenced-120?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Oct 2020 21:07:02 +0000 Some 25 years after the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin nerve gas on subway trains in Tokyo, the head of the Japanese agency charged with monitoring its activities has warned that loyal followers of founder Shoko Asahara remain a threat. Ayuko Watanabe, director of the Public Security Intelligence Agency unit devoted to tracking the cult’s members and periodically searching its facilities, said on Friday that three splinter groups have emerged from the original cult are actively recruiting new... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3093734/japans-subway-sarin-attack-doomsday-cult-aum-shinrikyo-still?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3093734/japans-subway-sarin-attack-doomsday-cult-aum-shinrikyo-still?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jul 2020 04:45:11 +0000 A week after six children and a pregnant woman were sacrificed in a brutal religious ritual, the inhabitants of a remote village in northwestern Panama fear they might be next. “No one can sleep. As soon as they hear a cricket or a cockroach everyone’s on high alert,” said Pacifico Blanco. Blanco lives in Altos del Terron, an isolated indigenous community where the victims of the ritualistic killings were found last week in a mass grave. Bibles, messages alluding to the devil and a heap of rope... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3047128/screams-jungle-mystery-panama-cult-sacrifices-children?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3047128/screams-jungle-mystery-panama-cult-sacrifices-children?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2020 04:42:10 +0000