Posted on May 28, 2022
Japanese Red Army founder Shigenobu freed after 20 years
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The co-founder of the Japanese Red Army militant group has been freed from prison after serving 20 years for her part in a 1974 embassy siege.
Fusako Shigenobu, 76, had evaded capture for decades before being arrested in Osaka in 2000.
Her once-feared group had aimed to provoke a global socialist revolution through high-profile terror acts.
They carried out a series of hostage-takings and hijackings, as well as a deadly attack on an Israeli airport.
But Shigenobu served time for the 1974 attack on the French embassy in The Hague, in which the ambassador and a number of others were taken hostage by three Red Army militants for 100 hours.
The siege ended after France freed a Red Army militant and the group flew to Syria.
Shigenobu did not take part in the attack herself, but a Japanese court found in 2006 she had helped co-ordinate it, sentencing her to 20 years for her role.
Fusako Shigenobu, 76, had evaded capture for decades before being arrested in Osaka in 2000.
Her once-feared group had aimed to provoke a global socialist revolution through high-profile terror acts.
They carried out a series of hostage-takings and hijackings, as well as a deadly attack on an Israeli airport.
But Shigenobu served time for the 1974 attack on the French embassy in The Hague, in which the ambassador and a number of others were taken hostage by three Red Army militants for 100 hours.
The siege ended after France freed a Red Army militant and the group flew to Syria.
Shigenobu did not take part in the attack herself, but a Japanese court found in 2006 she had helped co-ordinate it, sentencing her to 20 years for her role.
Japanese Red Army founder Shigenobu freed after 20 years
Posted from bbc.com
Japan
Terrorism
Communism
Punishment
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."‘An ugly end’
Born into poverty in post-war Tokyo, Shigenobu was the daughter of a World War II major who became a grocer after Japan’s defeat.
Her odyssey into Middle East geopolitics began by accident when she passed a sit-in protest at a Tokyo university when she was 20.
Japan was in the midst of campus tumult in the 1960s and ’70s to protest against the Vietnam War and the government’s plans to let the US military remain stationed in the country.
Shigenobu quickly became involved in the left-wing movement and decided to leave Japan aged 25.
She announced the Red Army’s disbanding from prison in April 2001, and in 2008 was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer, undergoing several operations.
Shigenobu said on Saturday she will first focus on her treatment and explained she will not be able to “contribute to the society” given her frail condition.
But she told reporters: “I want to continue to reflect [on my past] and live more and more with curiosity.”
In a letter to a Japan Times reporter in 2017, she admitted the armed group had failed in its aims."...
..."‘An ugly end’
Born into poverty in post-war Tokyo, Shigenobu was the daughter of a World War II major who became a grocer after Japan’s defeat.
Her odyssey into Middle East geopolitics began by accident when she passed a sit-in protest at a Tokyo university when she was 20.
Japan was in the midst of campus tumult in the 1960s and ’70s to protest against the Vietnam War and the government’s plans to let the US military remain stationed in the country.
Shigenobu quickly became involved in the left-wing movement and decided to leave Japan aged 25.
She announced the Red Army’s disbanding from prison in April 2001, and in 2008 was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer, undergoing several operations.
Shigenobu said on Saturday she will first focus on her treatment and explained she will not be able to “contribute to the society” given her frail condition.
But she told reporters: “I want to continue to reflect [on my past] and live more and more with curiosity.”
In a letter to a Japan Times reporter in 2017, she admitted the armed group had failed in its aims."...
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