Wife of Jap journalist pleads for his release

TOKYO: The wife of a Japanese journalist kidnapped in Syria more than three years ago broke her silence on Tuesday to plead for his release after he appeared in a hostage video.

Jumpei Yasuda, a 44-year-old freelancer, was kidnapped in the war-torn country in June 2015, and appeared in a rare video that emerged last week warning that he was in a bad situation. "There are a lot of people in Japan -- his family, relatives, friends -- waiting for my husband," his wife Myu told a news conference in Tokyo.

"Please return my husband safe as soon as possible," she said tearfully. "As his wife, as his family, I want him... to set foot back on Japanese soil." Last week Yasuda and captured Italian national Alessandro Sandrini appeared in two separate videos that were similar in their staging. Both men were wearing orange outfits similar to those of captives in Jihadist hostage videos, with armed men whose faces were covered standing behind them. The videos did not identify which group was holding the men or include specific demands.