Four Terrorist Group Members Sent Back to Japan

Four members of the Japanese Red Army, a shadowy ultra-leftist group accused of terrorist attacks in the 1970s, reportedly were on their way back to Japan on Friday after Lebanon denied them asylum.

Lebanon had refused to extradite the three men and a woman to Japan, so it deported them to Jordan. But once in Amman, they were handed over to Japanese diplomats, who took them on a private plane back to Japan, diplomats in the Jordanian capital said.

The Amman-based diplomats spoke on condition that they not be identified further, and Japanese Embassy officials in Amman refused to confirm or deny the information.

Jordan’s official Petra news agency confirmed that the kingdom “refused to allow entry to the four elements of the Japanese Red Army.” The report said they “went to another side,” but it did not specify where they went.

A fifth Red Army member, Kozo Okamoto, was granted asylum in Lebanon because of health reasons, the Lebanese government said in a statement.

Friday’s events were the latest development in Japan’s longtime attempt to get Lebanon to extradite the Red Army members.

Tokyo wants the five to stand trial in Japan on charges of staging bloody attacks around the world. But Lebanon has cited the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries and said the Japanese government does not have evidence confirming its accusations.

Okamoto, 51, is the best known of the five: He was involved in a 1972 attack in Israel that left 24 people dead. He was freed by Israel in a 1985 prisoner swap with Palestinian guerrillas.