Situatie Japanse gijzelaars is verslechterd
Henk van der Keur - 11.04.2004 21:02
In tegenstelling tot wat eerder werd bericht, komen de Japanse gijzelaars niet vrij. De kidnappers dreigen ze één voor één te vermoorden. Daarom een hernieuwde oproep uit Japan.
Situation of Japanese hostages has deteriorated
Posted on 11 April 2004 by ICBUW
 http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=116
The situation of the three Japanese hostages has deteriorated. The attached photo shows one of the hostages, Mr. Noriaki Imai (18), holding a copy of the Hiroshima Appeal for Banning DU Weapons. We hope this conveys to the Iraqi group that Noriaki has gone to Iraq out of his deep sympathy for Iraqi children suffering under the impact of DU contamination.
To our great sadness, the situation of the three Japanese hostages has deteriorated. The kidnappers of three Japanese civilians have threatened to kill one of them within 24 hours if Tokyo does not withdraw its troops out of Iraq, a self-described Iraqi mediator has told Aljazeera Television.
Citing a statement by "the Iraqi resistance", Mazhar al-Dalaimi said on Sunday the kidnappers are "giving the Japanese government a 24-hour ultimatum, not open to extension, after which they will execute a first hostage.
Al-Dalaimi, who heads the League for the Defense of Iraqis' Rights, said "the death sentence will be applied to the others 12 hours later" unless Tokyo meets a number
of conditions, mainly to pull its troops out of Iraq.
A Japanese diplomat in Amman declined to comment on the status of al-Dalaimi.
On Thursday Aljazeera television aired a videotape showing the three Japanese sitting at the feet of their armed
captors, members of a previously unknown group called Saraya al-Mujahadin.
Humanitarian mission
The hostages are Noriaki Imai, 18, Soichiro Koriyama, 32, and Nahoko Tokato, 34.
Imai graduated from high school last month. He is a member of the Campaign to Abolish Depleted Uranium and travelled to Iraq on 1 April to study the effects of depleted
uranium on Iraqi children.
Koriyama is a former soldier turned freelance
photojournalist.
Takato, is an aid worker and peace activist. She travelled to Iraq in April 2003, after US and British tanks entered Baghdad.
The captors had initially threatened to burn the hostages alive if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.
Saraya al-Mujahadin sent a fax to Aljazeera saying it would release all three hostages by 00:00GMT (3:00am), adding they were all in good health.
 E-Mail: henk.vdkeur@antenna.nl  Website: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org
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