Captors threaten to execute Japanese hostage in Iraq: mediator

[Flagg]

Captors threaten to execute Japanese hostage in Iraq: mediator


DOHA (AFP) - The captors of three Japanese civilians have threatened to kill one of them within 24 hours if Tokyo does not pull its troops out of Iraq (news - web sites), a self-described Iraqi mediator told Al-Jazeera satellite channel, citing a statement by "the Iraqi resistance."




The captors are "giving the Japanese government a 24-hour ultimatum, not open to extension, after which they will execute a first" hostage, said Mezher al-Delaimi, who was identified as head of the League for the Defense of Iraqis' Rights.


"The death sentence will be applied to the others 12 hours later" unless Tokyo meets a number of conditions, chiefly to pull its troops out of Iraq, Delaimi said.


A diplomat at the Japanese embassy in Amman questioned about the statement told AFP, "We are still to confirm this report".


He declined to comment on the status of Delaimi.


The "Iraqi resistance" is demanding that the Japanese government "spell out its official position on the Iraqi people's cause, apologize to the Iraqis and withdraw Japanese troops from Iraqi territory," the self-styled mediator said.


He said resistance fighters also wanted Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Ichiro Aisawa, now in Amman as Tokyo's point-man for the crisis, to visit the rebel town of Fallujah west of Baghdad to "see the massacres perpetrated by US forces" there.


The whereabouts and condition of the three Japanese hostages remained unknown on Sunday despite reports suggesting their release was imminent.


A Japanese foreign ministry official said in Tokyo that the government


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040411/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_japan_kidnap_threat&cid=1514&ncid=1473

[boobooday]

1. Iraqi people reject "liberation"

Once they realized that their Arab-English dictionary definition of the word has nothing to do with Bush's agenda.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Prodemsouth]

2. When I went away last night - I thought they had been released what

happened?

[pop goes the weasel]

3. it was just a possibility

Some of the Muslim clerics have been trying behind the scenes to get the Japanese released since they are true civilians in every sense of the word, and two of them are human rights workers. I think that if the Japanese hostages are released unharmed, that it will be a good sign that there is both effective communication among the "insurgents" and a possibility for indigenous government. That there is this new threat against the hostages indicates how tenuous any order is among the "insurgents." They are probably playing internal politics right now, with the captives lives as the stakes.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

4. Camp Delta

With his detention camp in Guantanamo has not der Shrubenfuhrer lowered the bar regarding the treatment “true civilians in every sense of the word” can expect?

[pop goes the weasel]

6. oh, indeed

but I haven't lowered my standards, and I'm betting that most people haven't lowered theirs. What we need is to emphatically demand that the higher standards be respected.

[ktranz]

8. i wonder if Cheney had something to do with that

now this, is he leaving Japan yet?

[Zhade]

5. Aisawa would be wise NOT to visit Fallujah.

He said resistance fighters also wanted Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Ichiro Aisawa, now in Amman as Tokyo's point-man for the crisis, to visit the rebel town of Fallujah west of Baghdad to "see the massacres perpetrated by US forces" there.

If I were a member of the Iraqi resistance, and I was of the mindset that taking hostages might work, I'd be drooling over the chance to abduct a member of Japan's government.

Not a good idea to visit Fallujah, IMHO. Far too risky.

[pop goes the weasel]

7. perhaps

its a tacit offer for a hostage exchange--one high ranking official for 3 humanitarians.