26 Facts About Fusako Shigenobu

Fusako Shigenobu is a Japanese communist activist, writer, and the founder and leader of the now-disbanded terrorist group Japanese Red Army.

Fusako Shigenobu was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2006 and released in 2022.

Fusako Shigenobu was born on September 28,1945, in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo.

Fusako Shigenobu's father had served as a major in the Imperial Japanese Army and had been dispatched to Manchukuo.

Fusako Shigenobu eventually received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy and in History.

In February 1971, Fusako Shigenobu decided to relocate to the Middle East with a self-appointed mission to establish an international branch of the RAF for these purposes.

Fusako Shigenobu and Okudaira wrote My Love, My Revolution as a response, the title of which was a reference to Mitsuko Tokoro's influential essay collection My Love and Rebellion.

Fusako Shigenobu remained in the Middle East for more than 30 years.

Fusako Shigenobu's move reflected the concept of "international revolutionary solidarity," with the idea that revolutionary movements should cooperate and eventually lead to a global socialist revolution.

Fusako Shigenobu originally joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as a volunteer, but eventually the JRA became an independent group.

Fusako Shigenobu seems to have had advance knowledge of the attack, as she had written to friends in Japan advising them to be on the lookout for a "historic event" in the revolutionary struggle to take place in May 1972.

On March 1,1973, in Beirut, Lebanon, Fusako Shigenobu gave birth to her first and only daughter, Mei Fusako Shigenobu.

Fusako Shigenobu has since written a book about her relationship with her daughter.

The hijackers were arrested by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi but Fusako Shigenobu negotiated their release in 1974.

Thereafter, Fusako Shigenobu issued statements saying that the JRA would henceforce renounce "terror" tactics and pursue legal means.

Fusako Shigenobu herself was connected to the kidnapping of a Japanese businessman in the Philippines in 1986.

Fusako Shigenobu was arrested on November 8,2000, outside a hotel in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, after entering Japan illegally through Kansai International Airport using a forged passport that she obtained by impersonating another person some time between 1997 and 2000.

Fusako Shigenobu pleaded guilty to the first two charges, but not guilty to the charge linking her to the 1974 embassy hostage taking.

Fusako Shigenobu herself maintained her innocence in the French embassy incident.

Therefore the judge ruled that "a sentence of life imprisonment is too heavy," because while Fusako Shigenobu was a leader she did not control the entire organization.

Fusako Shigenobu filed another appeal, but on July 15,2010, the decision was made to reject it and the sentence was confirmed.

Fusako Shigenobu filed an objection to the decision to reject the appeal, but on August 4,2010, the Supreme Court of Japan's No 2 Small Court reject the Fusako Shigenobu's final appeal, and the sentence of 20 years in prison was finalized.

However, as Fusako Shigenobu had already served 810 days in prison, her sentence was reduced by time served to 17 years and Fusako Shigenobu's release was planned for 2022.

In 2001, Fusako Shigenobu formally announced the dissolution of the Red Army from her prison cell and proclaimed the armed struggle over.

In 2008, Fusako Shigenobu was diagnosed with both colon cancer and intestinal cancer and has had several operations to remove them.

On May 28,2022, Shigenobu was released from prison in Tokyo, met by a small crowd of supporters and a banner reading, "We love Fusako".