Junpei Yasuda, Japanese Journalist Missing in Syria, Surfaces in Video
By JONATHAN SOBLE

TOKYO — A Japanese journalist believed to have been captured by militants in Syria last year appeared in a video posted online on Thursday. He delivered an emotional message to his family but revealed little about his captors’ demands or intentions.

“I want to hug you, I want to talk with you, but I can’t anymore,” the journalist, Junpei Yasuda, says in the video. It was the first direct public evidence of his fate since he disappeared in the summer after telling associates that he was headed to Syria to cover the civil war there.

Mr. Yasuda is believed to be held by the Nusra Front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda that has taken a number of foreigners, including journalists. Some have been released, reportedly in exchange for ransoms.

NHK, the Japanese national broadcaster, said it spoke with the man who posted the video, but it did not identify him. Mr. Yasuda makes no reference to his captors in the video.

Bearded and sitting at a table strewn with books and papers, with a white wall in the background, Mr. Yasuda, 42, speaks in halting English, pausing to check his emotions as he addresses his “wife, father, mother, brother.” After identifying himself, he says it is his birthday, March 16, which suggests the video was recorded on Wednesday.

A freelance journalist who has often reported from conflict zones, Mr. Yasuda has been a hostage in the Middle East before. In 2004, he was one of several Japanese whom militants captured in Iraq in the chaos after the American-led invasion. The Japanese government negotiated their release, but upon their return, they were ostracized for “causing trouble” for Japan.

Yoshihide Suga, who as chief cabinet secretary is the main spokesman for the Japanese government, said the man in the video appeared to be Mr. Yasuda, but he did not offer details about who might be holding him or why the video had just been released. The government said it was unaware of any demands for a ransom.

“The safety of Japanese citizens is our priority, and we are gathering information and making all possible efforts to respond,” Mr. Suga said at a daily news briefing.

The Kyodo News agency quoted Mr. Yasuda’s mother as saying, “I just hope he comes home safely.”

Rumors and fragmentary reports about Mr. Yasuda’s fate have circulated since he vanished. In December, Reporters Without Borders, the international advocacy group for journalists, said the Nusra Front was demanding a ransom and had “started a countdown” to his execution unless it was paid. But Reporters Without Borders withdrew its statement days later, saying its information was “not sufficiently verified.”

Last year, videos surfaced online that appeared to show two Japanese beheaded by members of the Islamic State, or ISIS, a rival to the Nusra Front known for its especially violent and theatrical tactics. The men, a journalist and an adventurer seeking work as a security contractor, were killed after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised $200 million in aid to Middle Eastern countries fighting terrorism.

In the video released on Thursday, Mr. Yasuda speaks for just over a minute. After addressing his family, he says, “I have to say something to my country,” then reads several cryptic sentences from a piece of paper — a threat from his captors, perhaps, or a plea for help, or both.

“When you’re sitting there, wherever you are, in a dark room, suffering with the pain, there’s still no one,” Mr. Yasuda says. “No one answering. No one responding. You’re invisible.”

遭綁日記者 控政府不理

網路上17日出現一段影片，似乎是失蹤的日本記者安田純平向家人和祖國宣讀聲明。據日媒報導，安田6月從土耳其進入敘利亞後遭到努斯拉陣線（Al-Nusra Front）綁架。

路透社報導，影片顯示，這名蓄鬍男子說，「我是安田純平。今天3月16日是我生日。」他表示希望能擁抱妻子、父親、母親和兄弟後說：「我有訊息一定要告訴我的國家：當人坐在那裡，在黑暗房間，無論在何處，承受著痛苦，卻還是沒有人。沒有人回答，沒有人回應。你是隱形的。」

日本外務大臣岸田文雄表示，政府已知道有這段影片，正在蒐集並分析情資以擬定對策。岸田文雄說，「日本公民安全是政府重要職責，因此我們正充分利用各種訊息網絡來因應。」但目前無法證實影片真實性。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/world/asia/syria-japan-junpei-yasuda.html

2016-03-18 世界日報 編譯中心