Japan journalist freed from Syrian captivity says he's safe

A Japanese freelance journalist who was freed after more than three years of captivity in Syria said Wednesday he is safe in neighbouring Turkey.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Japanese Embassy officials met with the journalist, Jumpei Yasuda, at an immigration center in southern Turkey near the border with Syria.

"We are extremely pleased that we have confirmed the safety of Mr Jumpei Yasuda," Kono told reporters. Yasuda was kidnapped in 2015 by al-Qaida'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.

"My name is Jumpei Yasuda, Japanese journalist. I have been held in Syria for 40 months," Yasuda said, somewhat haltingly, in English in videotaped comments broadcast by Japan's NHK public television.

"Now I am in Turkey. Now I am in safe condition. Thank you very much." NHK said the video was shot inside the immigration center and was released by the local government in Turkey's Hatay province. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said "Every effort is being made to ensure that the journalist is returned to his country," but would not provide information on the handover.

News of Yasuda's release came late Tuesday from Qatar, which helped in obtaining his freedom along with Turkey and other countries in the region, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Asked if any ransom was paid, Suga said, "There is no fact that ransom money was paid."
Yasuda's wife, a singer who goes by the name Myu, was on a live talk show on Japanese television and shed tears when she heard Kono confirm that her husband was safe. "First I want to tell him welcome back, and then praise him for enduring," she said. "I'm so glad he survived."
Those missing include Austin Tice of Houston, Texas, who disappeared in August 2012 while covering the conflict, which has killed some 400,000 people. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying "Oh, Jesus."