or Jumpei Yasuda is a Japanese freelance journalist who has reported from countries in the Middle East, including

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, Syria and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. He has twice been kidnapped while reporting and was thought to have been taken hostage by

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...

in Syria for three years before being released on October 23, 2018.

History

Iraq

In April 2004, Yasuda was kidnapped on suspicion of spying by locals in Iraq, but was released after three days without any demand and statement.

Syria kidnapping

Yasuda went missing while reporting from Syria between June 20–23, 2015. He was believed to have been kidnapped by

. On March 17, 2016, Yasuda appeared in a video believed have been recorded the previous day. On July 6, 2018, Yasuda appeared in a video released by

Nippon News Network Nippon News Network (NNN) is a Japanese commercial television network owned by Nippon Television, which itself is controlled by the ''Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Ja ...

, who obtained the video from a person connected to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The video appeared to be recorded in October 2017. On August 1, 2018, Yasuda appeared in another hostage video, in which he stated the date of recording as July 25. He said in the video "My name is Umaru and I'm South Korean." in Japanese. On October 23, 2018, Yasuda was released in

Antakya Antakya (), historically known as Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια; hy, Անտիոք, Andiok), is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, ...

and in a brief video statement released by Turkish officials stated "My name is Junpei Yasuda, Japanese journalist. I have been held in Syria for 40 months, now in Turkey. Now I’m in safe condition. Thank you very much". Yasuda left

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

for

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

the day after his release. It's reported on October 25, 2018 that agents from the International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit (ICTICU) played a role in securing his release. In November 2018, a Canadian citizen who was held hostage in Syria alongside Yasuda claimed they were held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. He said they were both held at the same facility in small cells indicating that they suffered beatings and were fed rotten food.

References

1974 births 21st-century journalists Formerly missing people Living people Japanese people of the Iraq War Japanese people taken hostage Japanese war correspondents Missing person cases in Syria People from Iruma, Saitama {{Japan-journalist-stub

History

Iraq

Syria kidnapping

See also

References