Japan terrorist group founder freed after serving time

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Fusako Shigenobu, who co-founded the terrorist group Japanese Red Army, has been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence, and apologized for hurting innocent people. Shigenobu was convicted of masterminding the 1974 siege of the French Embassy in the Hague, the Netherlands. She was arrested in 2000 in Osaka. The Japanese Red Army, formed in 1971 and linked with Palestinian militants, took responsibility for several attacks including the takeover of the U.S. Consulate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1975. It is also believed to have been behind a 1972 machine-gun and grenade attack on an airport in Israel.