Fusako Shigenobu

Fusako Shigenobu, 59, founded and headed the group based in the Middle East which backed Arab nationalist and other revolutionary causes.

Three Red Army members stormed the embassy in the Netherlands in September 1974, taking the ambassador and 10 other staff hostage to secure the release of militants in a French prison.

Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded in the attack.

The prosecution said Shigenobu plotted the attack and sought a life term on confinement and attempted murder charges, telling the Tokyo District Court it was an "exceptionally massive and contemptible act of terrorism."

Shigenobu, who was not among the three who seized the embassy, denied her part in the attack. Her trial is scheduled to conclude Oct. 31.

Shigenobu was arrested in Osaka in 2000 after slipping back into Japan and living under a false identity. She announced the disbanding of the group in April 2001 as its presence in the Arab world had diminished.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 10, 2005
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