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ANTAKYA, TURKEY – Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda, hijacked by Islamist militants in Syria for 40 months, left for Turkey on Wednesday in Japan after being released. He said he was happy to go home. "Hell"
The 44-year-old journalist, allegedly captured by an Al-Qaeda affiliate after entering Syria in Turkey in 2015, was released a day earlier after more than three years of captivity. 19659002] Japanese diplomats in Turkey have previously confirmed that the man released was Yasuda, and the Japanese Foreign Minister said the journalist would be brought home as soon as possible. Yasuda is expected to arrive in Japan on Thursday night.
Sending Reuters aboard a flight from Antakya in southern Turkey to Istanbul for a flight to Tokyo, Yasuda said that He did not know what the future was for him. 19659002] "I am happy to be able to return to Japan. At the same time, I do not know what will happen here or what I should do, "he said. "I think about what I have to do."
He also stated that he had not spoken Japanese for 40 months and that he was struggling to find the right words.
On board the same flight, Yasuda told NHK he went to Syria was a hell, not only physically, but also mentally.
"Day after day, it became difficult to control me, just thinking that I would not be released today," he said. is in good health and is excused for causing trouble.
But at the same time, he expressed his anger that his property had been washed away. "For three years or forty months, I could not work or work anymore. All my belongings, cameras and other work tools have been confiscated, "he said, recalling what he felt at the time of his release. In a video previously published by Turkish officials, Yasuda thanked for his freedom and said he was safe.
"I call myself Jumpei Yasuda, a Japanese journalist. I have been detained in Syria for 40 months, now in Turkey. Now, I am safe. Thank you very much, "said Yasuda, a bearded man.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday expressed Japan's gratitude to Qatar and Turkey for their help in the liberation of Yasuda.
Mr. Abe told reporters that he had spoken by telephone with the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after confirming that the journalist was safe.
Yasuda entered Syria from Hatay in June 2015 to cover the civil war and then disappeared, apparently, after being taken hostage by a militant group.
Although it is not immediately clear how why Yasuda, who often covered war zones, was released, the secretary general of the Cabinet, Yoshihide Suga, said Qatar, which exerts some influence on the Syrian rebel groups, and Turkey, neighbor of the north of Syria, have negotiated negotiations [19659002] The Japanese government has called for cooperation between Qatar and Turkey through the Counterterrorism Intelligence Collection Unit, launched in 2015 to gather information on global militant groups.
After his disappearance, a sequence apparently showing that Yasuda read a message in English to his family and to the Japanese public was put online in March 2016.
In May 2016, an image emerged of what appeared to be a bearded Yasuda holding a sign carrying a handwritten message in Japanese that says, "Please, help us. This is the last chance. Yasuda Jumpei. "
Several video recordings of a person presumed to be Yasuda were also posted in July of this year.
While Yasuda was supposed to be in the hands of a group linked to al-Qaida, some information suggested he had been handed over to a dissident organization.
Yasudo's three years of captivity were not his first detention in the Middle East.
He was detained in Baghdad in 2004 and was criticized at home for drawing attention to him. government in negotiations for his release.
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