{"id":2273,"date":"2018-10-26T02:39:33","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T02:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=2273"},"modified":"2018-10-26T02:39:33","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T02:39:33","slug":"japanese-journalist-freed-from-3-year-captivity-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2018\/10\/26\/japanese-journalist-freed-from-3-year-captivity-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Journalist Freed From 3-Year Captivity in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TOKYO \u2014 Jumpei Yasuda, a Japanese freelance journalist who went missing in Syria in 2015, was freed from his captors on Tuesday, according to Japanese government officials.<\/p>\n

Yoshihide Suga, Japan\u2019s chief cabinet secretary, said Qatari officials reported that Mr. Yasuda had been released and was in a Turkish immigration facility in Antakya. Japanese officials confirmed his safety on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear his health condition looks well at first sight,\u201d Taro Kono, Japan\u2019s foreign affairs minister, said of Mr. Yasuda on Wednesday afternoon. \u201cAfter the medical attach\u00e9 confirms his health conditions, we want him to come home as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Yasuda spoke briefly on Wednesday in\u00a0a short video on NHK<\/a>, a Japanese broadcaster. He said he was in Turkey in a \u201csafe condition.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Yasuda, 44, was believed to be a hostage of the Nusra Front, which now calls itself Hay\u2019at Tahrir al-Sham, a group known to capture foreigners for ransom.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said on NHK that he was \u201crelieved to hear the news of Mr. Yasuda\u2019s release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Suga told reporters that Japan had not paid ransom money or directly negotiated with the militant group.<\/p>\n

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Hay\u2019at Tahrir al-Sham declared its affiliation with Al Qaeda in 2013, but says it is no longer connected. The State Department declared it a terrorist group in 2012 and renewed the designation this year.<\/p>\n

In July, Japanese television stations\u00a0broadcast a video<\/a>\u00a0in which Mr. Yasuda spoke to the camera against a black backdrop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope all of my family is fine,\u201d Mr. Yasuda said in the video. \u201cI want to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before that, he had last been seen in\u00a0a video in 2016<\/a>, followed by a photograph two months later that showed him holding a handwritten note that reads in Japanese: \u201cPlease help. This is the last chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Yasuda had been a hostage before. In 2004, he spent three days in captivity when he and several Japanese citizens were captured in Iraq, but they\u00a0were not welcomed warmly upon their return<\/a>. Critics said they were \u201cJapan\u2019s shame\u201d who had \u201ccaused trouble\u201d for everybody, and the government said it would bill them for their airfare.<\/p>\n

He said at the time that the stress of his return was greater than the stress of his captivity. He had quit his job at a regional newspaper to report from Iraq.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to check ourselves what the Japanese government is doing in Iraq,\u201d Mr. Yasuda said in 2004. \u201cThis is the responsibility on the part of Japanese citizens, but it seems as if people are leaving everything up to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Yasuda\u2019s mother, Sachiko Yasuda, said Wednesday on NHK that she had folded nearly 10,000 paper origami cranes since he went missing, making at least one every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t stand without doing anything,\u201d she said. \u201cI kept folding the cranes, praying for his safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2014 Jumpei Yasuda, a Japanese freelance journalist who went missing in Syria in 2015, was freed from his captors on Tuesday, according to Japanese government officials. Yoshihide Suga, Japan\u2019s chief cabinet secretary, said Qatari officials reported that Mr. Yasuda had been released and was in a Turkish immigration facility in Antakya. Japanese officials confirmed his safety on Wednesday. \u201cWe… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157],"class_list":["post-2273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-ny-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273\/revisions\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}