Plea by wife of missing Japanese journalist

The wife of a Japanese journalist believed to have been kidnapped in Syria has made a tearful appeal for his release.

Using her stage name Myu, the wife of Jumpei Yasuda told a news conference that her husband is no enemy of the Middle East.

She was speaking out publicly for the first time since Mr Yasuda went missing more than three years ago. “I think he wanted to be the bridge between them and us,” she said. “So, I appeal to you, the people in the Middle East. My husband is not your enemy but he loves you very much.”

Myu, a singer, said she could not remain silent after the release of a video last week that showed a captive who the Japanese government said it believes is Mr Yasuda.

The bearded man said he faced harsh conditions and needed an immediate rescue. Mr Yasuda, a freelance journalist, went to Syria in 2015 to report on a friend, Kenji Goto, also a Japanese freelancer, who had been taken hostage and killed by the Islamic State group earlier that year.