Reporters Without Borders calls for release of Japanese journalist kidnapped in Iraq

Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate and unconditional release of three Japanese nationals, one of them a journalist, kidnapped on 8 April by a hitherto unknown Iraqi group "The Mujahadeen Brigades". Among those kidnapped was freelance photographer Soichiro Koriyama, working in Iraq for the Japanese newspaper Weekly Asahi. "We call on the kidnappers to immediately and unconditionally free their hostages," the international press freedom organisation demanded. "Since the fall of Saddam Hussein a year ago, there are many foreign journalists in Iraq," it said. "As specified in the Geneva Conventions they are neutral and independent civilian staff whose job is to report the news. Their safety should therefore never be put at risk and they should not be used as counters for political claims that are nothing to do with them." The "Mujahadeen Brigades" threatened to kill the three Japanese nationals by "burning them alive" if their country does not withdraw its troops from Iraq within three days. The Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera and Japanese television NHK have shown video footage showing the hostages, two men and a woman, surrounded by armed men, and their Japanese identity documents. "Three of your children have fallen into our hands and you have a choice: Withdraw your troops or we will burn them alive," said the group in a statement accompanying the footage and addressed to "our friends, the Japanese people". The group justified its threats by the fact that Japan "has supported the US Army". Some 550 Japanese soldiers have been deployed since last month in Samawa, a relatively peaceful town, for a "non-combatant" mission dedicated to reconstruction and humanitarian and logistical operations.