Fate of Japanese hostages still unknown

9.50pm

TOKYO - Neither the whereabouts nor the safety of three Japanese kidnapped in Iraq has been confirmed, a Japanese diplomat said in Amman on Sunday night (NZ time), extending the agony of their families who had hoped they would be released hours before.

"There has not been confirmation of the facts about the current whereabouts of the three Japanese. There is also no confirmation of their safety," Senior Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa told a news conference in the Jordanian capital.

"We're making efforts toward the earliest possible release of the three Japanese," Aisawa said.

Relatives of the civilian hostages, who had been cheered by earlier domestic reports that the three would be freed, grew anxious after a hoped-for release around midday (3pm NZT) failed to materialise.

"We're not getting any concrete information from anywhere. Are they really going to come back?" a tearful Naoko Imai, the mother of 18-year-old Noriaki, told reporters.

Other relatives echoed her anguish.

"We have not heard their voices or seen photographs showing that they have been rescued," said Kimiko Koriyama, mother of freelance reporter Soichiro. "I am so worried. Time is passing and I don't know what to do."

Arabic television station Al Jazeera had reported that the militants holding the hostages would free them in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association in Iraq.

On Thursday, the militants had threatened to "burn them alive" unless Japanese troops were pulled out of Iraq within three days -- Sunday evening Tokyo Time.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, facing his toughest political test, has vowed not to withdraw Japan's nearly 550 ground troops from southern Iraq, despite the threats.

Supporters of the families handed a petition with some 150,000 signatures to the government, urging Koizumi to consider withdrawing the troops if it would save the hostages' lives.

"We want him to place priority on their lives," a spokesman for the families, Hiroshi Honda, told Reuters.

Japan was stunned when the previously unknown group released a video on Thursday showing the three, blindfolded and being threatened with guns and knives.

The hostages are Imai, who had planned to look into the effects of depleted uranium weapons; aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34; and Koriyama, 32.

US Vice President Dick Cheney, in Tokyo at the start of a three-nation tour, was expected to urge Koizumi to stay the course when he meets the Japanese leader on Monday.

Several foreigners have been killed, kidnapped or gone missing in Iraq over the past week, putting pressure on US allies including Japan, Britain, Spain and Italy.

Among those missing are two US soldiers, an unknown number of contractors and two German embassy security guards.

Japan's public is sharply divided over the decision to deploy up to some 1000 troops on a non-combat mission to help rebuild Iraq in Japan's riskiest military operation since World War Two.

Critics say the deployment violates Japan's pacifist constitution and resent what they see as US pressure to make the decision. Supporters say it is time for Japan to take a bolder role in global security.

The release of the hostages would be a huge relief for Koizumi, whose ruling coalition faces an election in July, and could convince voters he did the right thing by standing firm.

"I think he made the right decision," said hairstylist Yoshiaki Takahashi, 48, when asked whether Koizumi had been right to stand firm. "We should not give in to terrorism."

Naoki Ito, 29, who works for a financial firm, was not so sure.

"If bringing the troops back will guarantee their release, it should at least be considered as one option," he said.

The debate on the dispatch could rage regardless of the outcome of the hostage situation.

Release of the hostages could give the opposition a freer hand in calling for the troops' withdrawal. The main opposition Democratic Party had declared a political cease-fire of sorts, saying the top priority was the safety of the hostages.

But the party argues that the troop dispatch was a mistake and that the worsening security situation around the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, where the troops are based, violates legal constraints limiting their activities to "non-combat zones".

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq