Ceremony in Beirut for Palestinian resistance fighter 'Japanese Ahmed': Laid to rest

A funeral ceremony was held in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, for Kozo Okamoto, one of the most well-known figures of the Japanese Red Army. According to reports by Aydinlik columnist Mehmet Yuva, Okamoto's political background, which stretched from student movements in Japan to his relationship with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, became a subject of discussion again following the ceremony.

According to the information in Yuva's article, Okamoto was born in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1947 and studied botany at university. Influenced by the leftist movements that emerged in the late 1960s against the US military presence in Japan, Okamoto later joined the Marxist-Leninist Japanese Red Army.

It was stated that after the Japanese Red Army established contact with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Okamoto received training in Lebanon and began to act alongside Palestinian organizations.

Okamoto's name came to the international agenda with the attack carried out at Lod Airport in Israel on May 30, 1972. Captured wounded after the attack, Okamoto was sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel. It was reported that Okamoto, who remained in prison for many years, later moved to Lebanon as part of a prisoner exchange.

After his release, Okamoto settled in the Dahiye district of Beirut and spent the rest of his life in Lebanon. The article noted that Fusako Shigenobu, one of the leading figures of the Japanese Red Army, also lived in Beirut for years before being tried and imprisoned in Japan.

According to Mehmet Yuva, Okamoto was buried with a ceremony held in Beirut on July 24. It was stated that thousands of people attended the ceremony and that he was laid to rest in a cemetery in Lebanon where foreign fighters who lost their lives for the Palestinian cause are also buried.