Anxious wait for release of Japanese hostages

Japan waited anxiously today for the release of three civilians taken hostage in Iraq as the government struggled to determine whether the gunmen holding them planned to set them free.

Japanese authorities said they received information that the two aid workers and one photojournalist would be freed today – as early as noon Japan time (4am Irish time) – three days after their kidnappers threatened to kill them unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq.

Officials cautioned against rejoicing prematurely and said they were hopeful the three would be set free. But with no news of their liberation as the time dragged on, the uncertainty took a toll on the families of the hostages.

“I had been looking forward to seeing my son’s bright face by noon, but there appears to be no conclusive evidence of their release,” said Kimiko Koriyama as she broke down in tears. “Everyone, please help me. Please save my son. Please.”

Koriyama’s son Soichiro, a 32 year-old freelance journalist, entered Iraq to report for a Japanese weekly news magazine.

The brother of aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34, also appealed for help.

“There have been no more developments, we don’t know anything about the safety of our family members,” said Shuichi Takato. “If the people of the Arab world can hear our voices, we beg you to allow us to see them returned to us safely.”

The number two official in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s ruling party, Shinzo Abe, had earlier suggested an end was in sight to a crisis that began dramatically with the release of a videotape showing the three blindfolded hostages surrounded by men armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

In an appearance this morning on the Asahi TV network, Abe said the government had received information from various unspecified diplomatic sources indicating that the three would be released by the end of a 24-hour period ending around noon Japan time.

“This is wonderful news,” he said. “But until they come home safe we can’t relax.”

But a few hours later, a senior administration official said there was still no word of a release but reiterated the government had information indicating it would happen today.

“It could take a little longer,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters as he joined other officials at the prime minister’s official residence. “We are waiting extremely hopefully.”

The hostage crisis was a blunt challenge to Koizumi’s commitment to the US-led coalition in Iraq.

He was a strong supporter of the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein and pledged about 1,000 Japanese military personnel on a non-combat mission to help with reconstruction, despite deep reservations in a nation with a pacifist tradition.

The kidnappers, a previously unknown group identifying themselves as the “Muhahedeen Squadron,” threatened in a video released on Thursday night to burn their captives to death unless Japan pulled its forces out of Iraq in three days.

Koizumi said he would not bow to the demands of terrorists, even though the families pleaded with the government to consider even a temporary withdrawal.

The first sign the crisis could be nearing an end came from the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera, which reported early today it had received a statement from the kidnappers saying they had decided to free their hostages within 24 hours following mediation by a Sunni Muslim organisation, the Islamic Clerics Committee.

In the statement, the kidnappers said they had acted after confirming the three were not “collaborating” with occupation forces, and derided the Japanese government as ”insolent” and unrepresentative of the Japanese people, media reports said.

Their families held an early-morning news conference to express their relief, issuing a statement thanking Al-Jazeera, the Islamic Clerics Committee, and “our friends throughout the world” for their help.

About 1,000 peace activists and other demonstrators gathered outside the prime minister’s residence for a third day, chanting and waving signs demanding that Japanese troops be pulled out to ensure the hostages’ release.

A weekend poll suggested public opinion was split on the issue.

The Japanese government has conducted a frantic diplomatic campaign to bring the captives home.

In a videotaped message dubbed in Arabic, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi urged the kidnappers to release the three, saying they were private citizens and “friends of Iraq.” Takato was a member of a relief group working with street children in Iraq.

The government sent a senior Foreign Ministry official to Jordan to co-ordinate efforts to secure the hostages’ freedom.