Japanese female fighters admired by Hamas

The Japanese Red Army is an organization with very close ties to the PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The purpose of the Japanese Red Army was to overthrow the Japanese imperial system and start a revolution.

Mr. Shigenobu's stance toward Japan's imperial system may not be acceptable to many Japanese people. However, he supported the ideals of the Palestinian people through his actions, and his struggle was admired by many in Palestine and West Asia.

Shigenobu, who has been called the "world's most feared female terrorist," was arrested in Takatsuki, Osaka, in 2000. At the time, she said, he held up her handcuffed hands and shouted, "I will continue the fight!" However, the Japanese Red Army had effectively ceased to function and he was imprisoned in 2001. announced the dissolution of the organization.

Mr. Shigenobu was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2006, and was released from prison at the end of his sentence in May 2022.

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas released a statement in conjunction with Shigenobu's release, saying, ``Fusako Shigenobu, a freedom fighter who fought alongside the Palestinian people against the Zionist regime Israel and was subsequently imprisoned in Japan. Her release from prison is a victory for herself and the ideals of Palestine," he said, congratulating her.

He added, ``The Palestinian people will never forget the actions that she and her Japanese Red Army comrades, who are fighters, took for Palestine.''

``Mr. Shigenobu, a Japanese fighter and revolutionary, has fulfilled his international responsibility by transcending geographical distance by standing side by side with Palestine and the Popular Front in the struggle. "She embodied a revolutionary connection," he said, calling on people around the world who seek freedom to follow her as an example.