Hopes fade for release of hostages

Optimism that three Japanese civilians held hostage in Iraq would be quickly released evaporated today, when Tokyo’s top government spokesman backtracked on an earlier statement and said authorities were no longer confident about their safety.

The comments were a sharp contrast with official remarks the day before indicating they believed there would be an imminent release of the three hostages, including an 18-year-old aid worker.

Japanese media even reported that the military was readying transport planes in Kuwait to bring them home.

“At one point we were able to make the judgment from various perspectives that they were safe, but now that’s unconfirmed,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda.

The hostages were being held by a previously unknown group calling itself the Mujahedeen Brigades.

The group has demanded that Japan pull its troops out of Iraq within three days or it would burn the three hostages alive.

The hostages were taken amid a recent spate of kidnappings in Iraq, including the abduction of seven Chinese men on Sunday. But some foreigners were also being released – insurgents freed a Briton and said they were letting go eight other captives of various nationalities.

For the Japanese hostages’ families, the uncertainty was taking its toll.

“The anxiety is overwhelming,” said Takashi Imai, the father of the youngest of the three hostages, 18-year-old Naoki Imai. “I know the troops are in Iraq to make a contribution – but so is our son. They can’t just let him be killed.”

Imai, who graduated from high school last month, is a member of a group trying to raise awareness about the health hazards facing civilians in Iraq from depleted uranium munitions used by US troops. Another hostage, 34-year-old Nahoko Takato, worked with street children in the war-torn country. The third hostage is a freelance photojournalist.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi staunchly refused to consider the withdrawal demand. Even so, officials said just before the initial three-day deadline passed last night that they had received word the hostages would be released unharmed.

Fukuda today acknowledged the government had no evidence that was true.

“We haven’t been able to confirm what kind of situation the three hostages are in,” he said.

Negotiations appeared to be continuing, however.

Senior Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa, sent to Jordan to co-ordinate efforts to secure the hostages’ freedom, said the Japanese Embassy in Amman was “in contact with somebody.” He declined to elaborate, saying “it is a very sensitive time.”

Koizumi also received an assurance from visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in Tokyo on a week long Asia tour that includes stops in China and South Korea, that Washington would provide its utmost effort to help resolve the crisis.

The crisis has swelled into Koizumi’s biggest test since he assumed office three years ago.

Despite a deeply divided public, Koizumi championed the plan to send about 1,000 non-combat troops to help in the reconstruction of Iraq in this country’s biggest and most dangerous overseas military operation since the Second World War. The troops began arriving in the south-eastern Iraq city of Samawah in January to carry out water purification projects and to assist in the rebuilding of schools and other infrastructure.

Though many Japanese appear to understand Koizumi’s refusal to be cowed by terrorists, they are also moved by the emotional pleas of the hostages’ families, who have repeatedly called for him to withdraw the troops if that will save the lives of their kin.

About 1,000 peace activists and others have demonstrated outside Koizumi’s official residence for the last three days demanding a pullout of the troops.