Fusako Shigenobu

 is a Japanese communist and the former leader and founder of the now disbanded Japanese Red Army (JRA).
Early life.
Shigenobu was born on 28 September 1945 in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo. Her father had been a teacher at a terakoya or temple school (寺子屋 "terakoya") open for poor village children in the Kyushu region after World War I, but had later become a major in the Imperial Japanese Army dispatched to Manchukuo.
After high school, Shingenobu went to work for the Kikkoman corporation and took night courses at Meiji University. She eventually received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy and in History. She joined the student movement that was protesting the increase of tuition fees, and this led her to activism in the leftist student movement Zengakuren, of which she became a leading member.
JRA movement.
In February 1971, she and Tsuyoshi Okudaira went to the Middle East to create international branches of the Japanese Red Army. Upon arrival, she soon split with the Red Army Faction in Japan due to both geographical and ideological distance, as well as a personal conflict with the new leader, Tsuneo Mori. The Red Army went on to link up with the Maoist Revolutionary Left Wing of the Japanese Communist Party to form the United Red Army. Upon hearing about the internal purge the United Red Army carried out in the winter of 1971–1972, Shigenobu recalls her shock and sorrow. She and Okudaira wrote "My Love, My Revolution" (わが愛わが革命) as a response.
Shigenobu remained in the Middle East for more than 30 years. Her move was part of International Revolutionary Solidarity, with the idea that revolutionary movements should cooperate and eventually lead to a global socialist revolution. Her destination was Lebanon, and her aim was to support the Palestinian cause. She originally joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as a volunteer, but eventually the JRA became an independent group. She mentions in several of her books "The mission's purpose was to consolidate the international revolutionary alliance against the imperialists of the world."
Shigenobu was listed as a wanted person by the INTERPOL in 1974 after the French embassy hostage-taking in the Hague in which she was believed to be involved.
Arrest.
Although internationally wanted Shigenobu evaded capture until when the then 55 year old Shingenobu was captured by police in 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. Shigenobu was using the alias, "Okudaira of" which the arresting officers greeted in order to gain her attention when they approached her. The same day she was transported to Tokyo to be interrogated by the Metropolitan Police Department although it was reported that she refused to answer any of her interrogators questions.
Since 1991, she established the "People's Revolutionary Party" for the purpose of "Armed revolution" in Japan and the masked organization "The 21st Century of Hope" in charge of its public activity department. 
It is also said that she used it as a foothold to plan cooperation with the Japanese Socialist Party.
After that, she was hiding in an apartment in Nishinari Ward, Osaka for a while.
In 2000, Osaka Prefecture Security Guard Public Safety Section 3 was inspecting the supporters of the Japanese Red Army and began to investigate the person who was in contact with a woman similar to Shigenobu.
Shigenobu was characterized by nevus, but she had hidden her nevus on her face with makeup.
However, her fingerprints were collected from the coffee cup used by the woman similar to Shigenobu.
Her way of smoking was similar to Shigenobu and she drank at a certain place.
The third security department found that it matched Shigenobu's fingerprint.
In addition, the Tokaido Shinkansen was used for her transfer from Osaka to the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo, and a private room of the "green car" was used to prevent escape.
She was taken in for questioning from a hotel in Takatsuki, near Osaka, in November of that year. Japanese citizens were startled to see a handcuffed middle-aged woman emerge from a train arriving in Tokyo. When Shigenobu spotted the waiting cameras, she raised her hands and gave the thumbs-up, shouting at reporters: "I'll fight on!"
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 8 March 2006, and received a final verdict from the Japanese Supreme Court in 2010 with the same terms. The prosecution charged her on three counts, the use of forged passport, aiding another member in the JRA in obtaining a forged passport, and attempted manslaughter by planning and commanding the 1974 occupation and hostage taking at the French embassy in The Hague, the Netherlands. Shigenobu pleaded guilty to the first two charges, but not guilty to the charge linking her to the 1974 embassy hostage taking. Among the witnesses that appeared in her court for the defense was Leila Khaled, known for the 1969 hijacking of TWA Flight 840, and currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. In his final verdict, the judge stated that there was no conclusive evidence of her involvement in the armed occupation of the embassy that resulted in the injury of two policemen, or in the intention of attempted manslaughter, but sentenced her for possibly conspiring with members of her group to occupy the embassy.
Hague Trial.
Prosecution.
Shigenobu was arrested for involvement in French embassy hostage-taking that took place in The Hague,Netherlands, to recapture (Yoshiaki Yamada) of the Japanese Red Army arrested by the French authorities on 13 September 1974.
Shigenobu was prosecuted for conspiracy joint conviction for illegal arrest and imprisonment, and attempted murder.
Prosecutors said the Japanese Red Army issued a crime statement the day after the execution and requested Palestinian Liberation People's Front (PFLP) from other Japanese Red Army publications to coordinate with the country that accepts arms procurement and released fellows. 
Based on evidence from former members who said that Shigenobu remarked for lack of preparation at the meeting after the incident, accused him of leading the crime as a mastermind in the French embassy hostage-taking and sentenced her to life imprisonment. 
In response to this, the defense side said, "At the time of the French embassy hostage-taking, the Japanese Red Army did not have an organizational structure and was not in a position to be instructed by Shigenobu because it was a PFLP operation and she was in Libya and has an alibi".
The Tokyo District Court found on 23 February 2006, "Defense Shigenobu played an important role in asking PFLP to coordinate arms procurement and countries accepting freed fellows." 
"The details, time, and place of the conspiracy are not clear, but the defendant is conspiring with the criminal through a cooperating organization in the Arab countries, and it cannot be established as an alibi."
The sentence was "Selfish offense that absolutely regards one's principles and claims and does not care about the dangers to many lives and bodies, and no serious remorse is seen".
But on the other hand, "Haruo Wako, the executing offender has decided on the important matters of the crime, and it cannot be asserted that the defendant had a core position but took the lead in the crime".
Then rejected the life imprisonment sentenced by the prosecution and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Shigenobu's daughter Mei Shigenobu and chief attorney Kyoko Otani filed an appeal on the same day as the sentencing.
Imprisonment.
In the appeals court, both the defense and the prosecution received terrorist "Carlos" prison sentences in France in the 1970s and 1980s, as in Shigenobu, causing terrorist attacks in many countries around the world, slaughtering a large number of civilians. 
Obtained a testimony about the command system of the French embassy hostage-taking and the history of the provision of arms, and submitted it to the court.
On 20 December 2007, the Tokyo High Court upheld the first-instance decision and dismissed the appeal.
Shigenobu filed an appeal, but on 15 July 2010, the decision was made to reject it and the sentence was confirmed. 
Shigenobu filed an objection to the decision to reject the appeal, but on 4 August 2010, the Supreme Court No. 2 Small Court (Yukio Takeuchi, Chief Justice) decided to reject the decision, and the first and second trial sentences with 20 years in prison were finalized. 
Shigenobu later served. 
However, due to the inclusion of three years of detention for 810 days into prison, it was actually 17 years and Shigenobu's planned source was 2027.
After dissolution.
In 2001, Fusako Shigenobu announced the dissolution of the Japanese Red Army, which had been virtually collapsed as an organization from prison.
At a press conference before the sentencing in February 2006, her lawyers read a haiku she had composed: 
In December 2008, she was diagnosed with both colon cancer and intestinal cancer and has had three operations to remove them. As of 2014 Shigenobu was detained in Hachioji Medical Prison having undergone 3 medical operations in relation to her cancer.
In June 2009, she said for the first time in response to the interview of Sankei Shimbun "I was conceited to change the world" about past activities. 
On the other hand, she said,
I ran into armed struggle when the movement was stalled.
Although student activism was thriving in the world, there were places where I returned to my hometown and continued to activity.
We may have had different results if we went back home and continued to the activity.
Personal life.
On March 1, 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon Fusako Shigenobu gave birth to her first and only daughter, Mei Shigenobu. The identity of the father remains a secret to the public with it being reported that he was a militant for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Fusako Shigenobu has since written a book about her relationship with her daughter.