Goto is a freelance journalist from Tokyo with a reputation for reporting from some of the world's most inhospitable places. He has written books on the impact of Aids on Africa and been on assignment for several of Japan's main news broadcasters in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and other hot-spots across Africa and Asia.
Yukawa was reportedly seized in in northern Syria in August by troops of the Islamic State, which released photographs and video footage of him being questioned.
Pictures on Yukawa's Facebook page apparently show him alongside rebels and firing an AK47 machine gun in the desert. His profile describes him as the CEO of a Tokyo-based organisation called Private Military Company, although that appears to have been little more than a name.
Media reports have suggested that Yukawa is a self-styled military consultant, although it appears he is more of a war enthusiast who wanted to get close to the fighting in Syria.
In the footage, the interrogator accuses Yukawa of being a member of the CIA.
After his capture, Reuters quoted friends and family of Yukawa as saying that he was on a journey of self-discovery after his wife died of lung cancer, his business had failed and his house had been repossessed. Yukawa had been living rough in a Tokyo park for a month before he left for the Middle East, according to his father.
He also reportedly attempted to commit suicide, changed his name to the more feminine-sounding Haruna and had begun to associate with some of Japan's more extreme nationalist organisations.
via Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1yElWVy
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment