Tokyo says freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda appears to be in good health after being freed from captivity in war-torn country
Japan confirmed on Wednesday that a man freed from Syria is a Japanese freelance journalist who was kidnapped three years ago and said he appears to be in good health.
The man was identified as Jumpei Yasuda, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said.
“We are extremely pleased that we have confirmed the safety of Mr. Jumpei Yasuda,” Kono told reporters. He said Japanese embassy officials met Yasuda at an immigration center in southern Turkey near the border with Syria, where he has been protected since he was freed on Tuesday. Kono said Yasuda appeared to be in good health.
Yasuda was kidnapped in 2015 by al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, known at the time as the Nusra Front, after contact with him was lost in June that year. A war monitoring group said he was most recently held by a Syrian commander with the Turkistan Islamic Party, which mostly comprises Chinese jihadis in Syria.
The news of Yasuda’s release came late on Tuesday from Qatar, which helped in efforts for his release along with Turkey and other countries in the region, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, thanking them for their support.
Asked if any ransom was paid, Suga said, “There is no fact that ransom money was paid.”
Yasuda’s parents earlier said they could not wait to see their son return home.
“I was just praying for his safe return,” said his mother Sachiko Yasuda, 75, as she and her husband stood in front of their home outside Tokyo, holding a “thousand cranes” well-wishing origami ornament that she had added to every day for three years.
