On the video footage of the man, speaking in Japanese, declares that he wants to be released from captivity. There are no other details so far.
According to the specialized telegram-channel Directorate 4, allegedly, the terrorists who captured the foreigner are the militants of the group Khayat Tahrir al-Sham. In this case, as reported by the Japanese media, a prisoner may be a journalist Dzumpei Yasuda, who disappeared in the summer of 2015, heading for the Syrian province of Idlib.
Earlier, in 2016, a photo of a captured Japanese journalist was already appearing in the media. Then it was extended by the mediator associated with the Jebhat al-Nusra grouping. * The photo depicted a man holding a poster with an inscription in Japanese: “Help, please. This is the last chance. Yasuda Jumpei. ”
According to some reports, the militants demanded a ransom from the Japanese government for a journalist, threatening otherwise to hand him over to the militants of the “Islamic State” group, known for the executions of representatives of foreign media.