Re: Japanese Goverment Bills Hostages for Release Costs

Date: April 27, 2004

"Gov't bills 3 ex-hostages Y2.37 mil for release costs

TOKYO — The Japanese government wants three Japanese who were held hostage in Iraq to pay it a total of 2.37 million yen to cover airfare expenses it incurred after their release, a Foreign Ministry affiliate official said Monday.

Of the sum, about 1.98 million yen was for one-way tickets for the three from the United Arab Emirates to Japan, and return tickets for two relatives and a lawyer, the official at the International Hospitality and Conference Service Association said.

On behalf of the ministry, the association asked a nongovernmental organization supporting their activities that they pay up.

The remaining 390,000 yen is chiefly for domestic airfare after they returned to Japan, the official said. The association, established by the ministry, coordinates trips for governmental officials.

In addition to these costs, the ministry is considering asking the three to pay part of the cost of chartering the plane they took from Baghdad to the UAE capital Dubai, ministry officials said.

Their relatives already paid medical and hotel costs for the three when they visited them in Dubai, they said.

Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a photojournalist, Nahoko Takato, 34, an aid worker, and Noriaki Imai, 18, a peace activist, were kidnapped by a militant group April 7 and released April 15.

After they were safely released in Baghdad, some Japanese governing party lawmakers began to argue that they or their families should pay some of the costs Tokyo incurred because they traveled to Iraq despite ministry warnings not to go there.

Koriyama and Imai, who returned to Japan on April 18 with Takato, are expected to hold a news conference probably on Friday in Tokyo for the first time since their return, a lawyer for Imai said.

The three have been diagnosed with acute stress disorder, but Koriyama and Imai are recovering, the lawyer said.

The stress was caused by the storm of public criticism unleashed on them in Japan once they returned as well as their ordeal in Iraq, according to a psychiatrist who evaluated them.

Takato is unlikely to take part in the news conference because she is still unwell, the lawyer said. (Kyodo News)"