Jordan Times
Friday, October 29, 2004
'Jordan exerting efforts to
help release Koda'
Agencies
HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Thursday said Jordan was exerting all possible
efforts to help release a Japanese hostage kidnapped in Iraq.
King Abdullah told Japan's Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa at a
meeting in Amman that Jordan strongly condemns kidnapping and killing, which
contradict with Islam and human values, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
A video released late Tuesday showed 24-year-old Shosei Koda announcing that
militants, believed to be linked to Iraq's most wanted man Abu Mussab Zarqawi,
would behead him if Japan did not pull out troops from Iraq within 48 hours,
according to Agence France-Presse.
Tanigawa, who arrived early Thursday, also held talks with Foreign Minister Hani
Mulki and Iraqi Deputy Health Minister Ammar Al Safar. He told a press
conference later that his country was still not certain of the kidnappers'
identity and that the abductors had made "no contact" with Japanese authorities.
Koda's mother, Setsuko, launched an emotional appeal for his release on Al
Jazeera satellite news channel.
"I heard some saying that he helps the [Japanese] army, but I assure you that he
has nothing to do with all this," Setsuko said in a message she read on air, AFP
said.
"He only wanted to see for himself what is happening in Iraq and do what he can
to help the beleaguered Iraqis." The Japanese foreign ministry has expressed
concern that Koda's captors said he was linked to Japanese troops in Iraq.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that Japan rejects the
kidnappers' demand. The 600-strong deployment is the country's first to an area
of active fighting since World War II.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the top government spokesman, said
Japan had asked for "the cooperation of 25 countries including Iraq, the United
States and Britain" to free Koda, who reportedly went to Baghdad as a tourist.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura spoke by telephone with US Secretary of
State Colin Powell and Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to appeal for
all possible help to save Koda, an official said.
Japan, which strongly supported the US-led invasion of Iraq, was able to save
three Japanese aid workers and two journalists taken hostage in April through
days of mediation.
But the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported Thursday that the Committee of Muslim
Scholars, believed to be behind the April release, had turned down requests to
cooperate this time.
"We declined. We're sorry, but we can't," a senior official of the group was
quoted as saying.
The Muslim cleric said there was little room for manoeuvre as Koizumi had
"infuriated" the militants by quickly rejecting the demand to withdraw troops.
The cleric also said it would be meaningless to try to negotiate with the
kidnappers.