Known members Fusako Shigenobu, co-founder and leader, arrested in Osaka, Japan, November 2000 and stood accused of orchestrating attacks, kidnappings and hijackings. A court in Tokyo sentenced her in February 2006 to serve 20 years in prison for attempted murder, kidnapping and confinement for her part in helping to plan the 1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague. Shigenobu was released on May 28, 2022. Tsuyoshi Okudaira, co-founder and leader, killed while carrying out the Lod Airport massacre. Osamu Maruoka, former leader and hijacker of two aircraft, was arrested in November 1987 in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on May 29, 2011.Kyodo News, "Ex-Red Army member Maruoka dies", Japan Times, May 30, 2011, p. 2. Haruo Wakō, former leader, arrested in Lebanon in February 1997 before being deported to Japan to be sentenced further. Masao Adachi, Kazuo Tohira, and Mariko Yamamoto were also imprisoned in Lebanon on charges of forgery yet were subsequently sent to Jordan before being handed over to Japan. Kuniya Akagi, a collaborator of the JRA, was arrested after returning to Osaka from Pyongyang via Beijing in order to be questioned over the kidnapping of three Japanese nationals in Europe by North Korean spies in the 1980s. He is linked to Shirō Akagi, who took part in the Yodo-go hijacking (See also: Japan Airlines Flight 351).Man linked to Red Army Faction arrested upon return from Pyongyang. Retrieved on June 9, 2007. Kunio Bando, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is still on Interpol's wanted list. He may have taken refuge in the Philippines in 2000. Ayako Daidōji, a former member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who joined the JRA in 1979, is on the wanted list and still at large. Yukiko Ekida, a former member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who joined the JRA in 1979, was arrested in March 1995 in Romania and subsequently deported to Japan. She received a sentence of 20 years for attempted murder and violating the explosives law in a series of bombings targeting large companies in 1974 and 1975. The trial of Ekida was originally started in 1975 but was suspended when she was released from prison in 1977. Her release was part of a deal with the Japanese Red Army during the hijacking of a Japanese airliner to Bangladesh. Yatsuka Furuya (birth name: Yoshiaki Yamada) joined the JRA in 1973 and took part in the Laju ferry hijacking in Singapore in 1974. His arrest in Paris later that year precipitated the French Embassy attack to free Furuya, as the JRA was concerned he might reveal their organizational structure and plans to French police. Arrested again in 1986, he was imprisoned for a year, but was released after his sentence expired and is now free, albeit under constant police surveillance. Yū Kikumura was arrested with explosives on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1988 and served over 18 years of a 30‑year prison sentence in the United States."Yu Kikumura ." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on January 6, 2010. In April 2007, Kikumura was released from US incarceration and immediately arrested upon his return to Japan. He was released in October 2007. Hisashi Matsuda, one of the hostage takers at the AIA building siege in Kuala Lumpur, is on the wanted list and still at large. Akira Nihei, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is wanted and still at large. Jun Nishikawa – One of the attackers of the French Embassy at The Hague in 1974, was arrested in Stockholm before being released later that year as part of a deal with the Japanese government to free the hostages that JRA had taken in the AIA building siege in Kuala Lumpur. After 20 years in hiding, he was arrested in Bolivia and deported to Japan, where he was tried and sentenced to life in prison. Kōzō Okamoto is the only survivor of the group of three JRA terrorists (alongside Tsuyoshi Okudaira and Yasuyuki Yasuda) attacking Lod airport in 1972, now called Ben Gurion International Airport. He was jailed in Israel, but in May 1985, Okamoto was set free in an exchange of prisoners between Israeli and Palestinian forces. Subsequently, he was imprisoned in Lebanon for three years for forging visas and passports. The Lebanese authorities granted Okamoto political asylum in 1999 for having participated in attacks against Israel and being allegedly tortured while serving his prison sentence in Israel. Junzō Okudaira was one of the three Japanese Red Army (JRA) members who attacked the French embassy in The Hague in 1974 and was the person who detonated a car bomb in front of a USO club in Naples in 1988. As of 2022, he remains at large. Norio Sasaki, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is wanted and still at large. Hiroshi Sensui, a JRA militant living in the Philippines, was arrested by the Integrated National Police as part of anti-terrorist measures to prevent terrorist incidents from taking place in the Seoul Olympic games after being tipped off by the Japanese National Police Agency.Terrorism and guerrilla warfare: forecasts and remedies, page 171. Tsutomu Shirosaki, an alleged conspirator who fired two mortar shells towards the Embassy of Japan, United States and Canada from a room in President Hotel (now Pullman Hotel) in the Jakarta, Indonesia on May 14, 1986. Nobody was injured in the incident as the bombs did not explode. United States court sentenced Shirosaki to 30 years in prison in 1998 for attempted murder and other crimes in connection with the mortar attack. His prison sentence was shortened for good behaviour and he was released in January 2015. When Shirosaki returned to Japan the following month, Tokyo police arrested him for alleged arson and attempted murder in connection with the 1986 mortar attack. In November 2016, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison but he died in July 2024. Yoshimi Tanaka was arrested in Cambodia in 1996 and extradited to Japan. A Tokyo court sentenced him to 12 years in prison in 2002 for his involvement in the Yodo-go hijacking, in which a Japan Airlines plane was hijacked to North Korea. He died in 2007. Kazue Yoshimura, reported to have taken part in the hostage crisis in The Hague, was arrested by Peruvian DIRCOTE agents in Lima on May 25, 1996, after alleged contacts with members of the Maoist Shining Path (SP) insurgency (even possibly with then-head of the organization Comrade Feliciano). The trace to her arrest was established after the 1995 Bucharest capture of Yukiko Ekita with a false Peruvian passport. Yoshimura had first entered Peru in February 1993 with a Philippine passport and later returned with the name of Yoko Okuyama, supposedly intended on travelling to the coca-growing Huallaga Valley, the last stronghold of the diminished Peruvian Maoist insurgency as well as a drug-trafficking haven. According to Peruvian Caretas magazine, she was intending on helping establish a JRA presence in South America and may have even established contacts with Jun Nishikawa, another JRA operative later captured in Bolivia. Yoshimura was later deported to Japan by the government of Alberto Fujimori (a Japanese Peruvian), who stated that there was no proof against her despite the overwhelming intelligence data. The move was allegedly the result of pressure from the Japanese authorities. In December 1997, Yoshimura was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for passport forgery.
Known members Fusako Shigenobu, co-founder and leader, arrested in Osaka, Japan, November 2000 and stood accused of orchestrating .attacks, kidnappings and hijackings. A court in Tokyo sentenced her in February 2006 to serve 20 years in prison for attempted murder, kidnapping and confinement for her part in helping to plan the 1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague. Shigenobu was released on May 28 2022. Tsuyoshi Okudaira, co-founder and leader, killed while carrying out the Lod Airport massacre. Osamu Maruoka, former leader and hijacker of two aircraft, was arrested in November 1987 in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on May 29, 2011.Kyodo News, "Ex-Red Army member Maruoka dies", Japan Times, May 30, 2011, p. 2. Haruo Wakō, former leader, arrested in Lebanon in February 1997 before being deported to Japan to be sentenced further. Masao Adachi, Kazuo Tohira, and Mariko Yamamoto were also imprisoned in Lebanon on charges of forgery yet were subsequently sent to Jordan before being handed over to Japan. Kuniya Akagi, a collaborator of the JRA, was arrested after returning to Osaka from Pyongyang via Beijing in order to be questioned over the kidnapping of three Japanese nationals in Europe by North Korean spies in the 1980s. He is linked to Shirō Akagi, who took part in the Yodo-go hijacking (See also: Japan Airlines Flight 351).Man linked to Red Army Faction arrested upon return from Pyongyang. Retrieved on June 9, 2007. Kunio Bando, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is still on Interpol's wanted list. He may have taken refuge in the Philippines in 2000. Ayako Daidōji, a former member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who joined the JRA in 1979, is on the wanted list and still at large. Yukiko Ekida, a former member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who joined the JRA in 1979, was arrested in March 1995 in Romania and subsequently deported to Japan. She received a sentence of 20 years for attempted murder and violating the explosives law in a series of bombings targeting large companies in 1974 and 1975. The trial of Ekida was originally started in 1975 but was suspended when she was released from prison in 1977. Her release was part of a deal with the Japanese Red Army during the hijacking of a Japanese airliner to Bangladesh. Yatsuka Furuya (birth name: Yoshiaki Yamada) joined the JRA in 1973 and took part in the Laju ferry hijacking in Singapore in 1974. His arrest in Paris later that year precipitated the French Embassy attack to free Furuya, as the JRA was concerned he might reveal their organizational structure and plans to French police. Arrested again in 1986, he was imprisoned for a year, but was released after his sentence expired and is now free, albeit under constant police surveillance. Yū Kikumura was arrested with explosives on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1988 and served over 18 years of a 30‑year prison sentence in the United States."Yu Kikumura ." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on January 6, 2010. In April 2007, Kikumura was released from US incarceration and immediately arrested upon his return to Japan. He was released in October 2007. Hisashi Matsuda, one of the hostage takers at the AIA building siege in Kuala Lumpur, is on the wanted list and still at large. Akira Nihei, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is wanted and still at large. Jun Nishikawa – One of the attackers of the French Embassy at The Hague in 1974, was arrested in Stockholm before being released later that year as part of a deal with the Japanese government to free the hostages that JRA had taken in the AIA building siege in Kuala Lumpur. After 20 years in hiding, he was arrested in Bolivia and deported to Japan, where he was tried and sentenced to life in prison. Kōzō Okamoto is the only survivor of the group of three JRA terrorists (alongside Tsuyoshi Okudaira and Yasuyuki Yasuda) attacking Lod airport in 1972, now called Ben Gurion International Airport. He was jailed in Israel, but in May 1985, Okamoto was set free in an exchange of prisoners between Israeli and Palestinian forces. Subsequently, he was imprisoned in Lebanon for three years for forging visas and passports. The Lebanese authorities granted Okamoto political asylum in 1999 for having participated in attacks against Israel and being allegedly tortured while serving his prison sentence in Israel. Junzō Okudaira was one of the three Japanese Red Army (JRA) members who attacked the French embassy in The Hague in 1974 and was the person who detonated a car bomb in front of a USO club in Naples in 1988. As of 2022, he remains at large. Norio Sasaki, one of the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 472, is wanted and still at large. Hiroshi Sensui, a JRA militant living in the Philippines, was arrested by the Integrated National Police as part of anti-terrorist me.asures to prevent terrorist incidents from taking place in the Seoul Olympic games after being tipped off by the Japanese National Police Agency.Terrorism and guerrilla warfare: forecasts and remedies, page 171. Tsutomu Shirosaki, an alleged conspirator who fired two mortar shells towards the Embassy of Japan, United States and Canada from a room in President Hotel (now Pullman Hotel) in the Jakarta, Indonesia on May 14, 1986. Nobody was injured in the incident as the bombs did not explode. United States court sentenced Shirosaki to 30 years in prison in 1998 for attempted murder and other crimes in connection with th,e mortar attack. His prison sentence was shortened for good behaviour and he was released in January 2015. When Shirosaki returned to Japan the following month, Tokyo police arrested him for alleged arson and attempted murder in connection with the 1986 mortar attack. In November 2016, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison but he died in July 2024. Yoshimi Tanaka was arrested in Cambodia in 1996 and extradited to Japan A Tokyo court sentenced him to 12 years in prison in 2002 for his involvement in the Yodo-go hijacking, in which a Japan Airlines plane was hijacked to North Korea. He died in 2007. Kazue Yoshimura, reported to have taken part in the hostage crisis in The Hague, was arrested by Peruvian DIRCOTE agents in Lima on May 25, 1996, after alleged contacts with members of the Maoist Shining Path (SP) insurgency (even possibly with then-head of the organization Comrade Feliciano). The trace to her arrest was established after the 1995 Bucharest capture of Yukiko Ekita with a false Peruvian passport Yoshimura had first entered Peru in February 1993 with a Philippine passport and later returned with the name of Yoko Okuyama, supposedly intended on travelling to the coca-growing Huallaga Valley, the last stronghold of the diminished Peruvian Maoist insurgency as well as a drug-trafficking haven. According to Peruvian Caretas magazine, she was intending on helping establish a JRA presence in South America and may have even established contacts with Jun Nishikawa, another JRA operative later captured in Bolivia. Yoshimura was later deported to Japan by the government of Alberto Fujimori (a Japanese Peruvian), who stated that there was no proof against her despite the overwhelming intelligence data. The move was allegedly the result of pressure from the Japanese authorities. In December 1997, Yoshimura was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for passport forgery.