• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • TP について/About
  • Topics/トピクス
    • Gender/ジェンダー
    • Globalisation/グローバリゼーション
    • Japan and Asia/日本とアジア
    • Japanese/日本語
    • Media/メディア
    • News/ニュース
    • Social Justice/社会正義
    • War and Empire/戦争&支配権力
    • Environment/環境
    • Other Stories/他の記事
  • Links/リンク
  • Contact

TokyoProgressive

Linking Progressives East and West Since 1997

東西のプログレッシブをつなぐ − 1997年設立  |  Linking Progressives East and West Since 1997

Appeal for the Release of Japanese Taken Hostage in Iraq

April 10, 2004 by tokyoprogressive Leave a Comment

————————————–

Please transfer and spread to all over the world!

——————————–
Appeal for the Release of the three Japanese Taken Hostage in Iraq

Issued by the Anti-DU (Depleted Uranium) Groups in Japan April 8, 2004

Today Mr. Noriaki Imai, 18 years old, and two other other Japanese
were taken hostage by an armed group in Iraq. Mr. Imai is a member of
the Campaign to Abolish DU (Depleted Uranium) as well as director of the
NO DU Sapporo Project. The armed group has issued the statement to the
effect that ?gthey will kill them unless Self-Defense Forces of Japan
withdraws within three days.?h

Mr. Imai has been deeply saddened by the fact that many innocent
Iraqi children have been suffering from cancer and leukemia. He has
become engaged in the activity for abolition of depleted uranium so that
DU weapons would not be used again.
He has been opposing of Iraq War and the dispatch of the Self-Defense
Forces to Iraq. He went to Iraq in order to see the reality of the DU
damage by his own eyes and convey it to as many people as possible. He
has been planning to produce a picture booklet about Iraqi children as a
means for such purpose.

Japanese Government should not have such well-meaning citizens
killed. We request that Japanese Government hold the regard for life to
be of the greatest importance. It should not be allowed to sacrifice
citizens for the sake of the Self-Defense Forces deployed in Iraq.

What is needed most in Iraq now is not to send an army, but to extend
medical relief for the still increasing victims by the war and the DU
weapons. We demand strongly that Japanese Government withdraw the
Self-Defense Forces immediately and to try every means to save the three
hostages as soon as possible.

?@As the fighting intensifies, similar captures can occur to the
civilians of many nationalities engaged in the relief activities in
Iraq. Recently a shell fell just near the base camp of the Japanese
Self-Defense Forces in Samawah. Now that the whole land of Iraq
including Samawah area has become the fighting field, the condition of
not sending the SDF to a fighting field has already collapsed. The
swift withdrawal of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces must be the sincere
hope of the majority of the people, not only that of particular groups,
in Iraq.

Anti-DU Groups in Japan

Campaign for Abolition of DU Weapons
http://popup12.tok2.com/home2/rekkauran/
Tokyo Citizens?f Network for DU Abolition
http://www.nodu.net/
NO DU Hiroshima Project
http://www.nodu-hiroshima.org/
NO DU Sapporo Project
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/no_du_sapporo/
Hokkaido Peace Net

———————————————–

NO DU Hiroshima Project
http://www.nodu-hiroshima.org/
order@nodu-hiroshima.org

———————————————-

Filed Under: Japan News

Join the Discussion

Comment on this article or respond to others' comments.

You can post below or send to the mailing list at discuss@list.tokyoprogressive.org.

a) Please sign you name at the bottom of your comment, so that we know who wrote it.

b) To prevent spam, comments need to be manually approved.

c) Comments which are insulting, racist, homophobic or submitted in bad faith will not be published.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Search the site

Archives

Main Categories (old and most recent)

Alternative News Contributors/投稿者 creative Democracy Now Environment/環境 Featured Gender/ジェンダー Globalisation/グローバリゼーション Jacobin Japan/日本 Japan and Asia/日本とアジア Japanese/日本語 Japan Focus Japan News Korea/韓国 latest latest-j links Media/メディア Mp3 National Security Archive neoliberalism new News/ニュース Other Stories/他の記事 Social Justice/社会正義 Topics Uncategorized Video War and Empire/戦争&支配権力

Search deeper

Abe activities, protests, films, events Afghanistan alternative news Bush class issues and homelessness Environmental research fukushima gaza health care Henoko human rights Iraq Iraq, Afganistan and the War on Terror Iraq and Afghanistan, opposing the wars Israel Japan Korea labor issues Latin America Middle East military North Korea nuclear nuclear waste Obama Okinawa Okinawa Palestine peace protest protest and resistance racism/human rights radiation state crimes Syria Takae Tepco Trump U.S. War world news English ニュース/社会問題 人権 平和、憲法9条

Design and Hosting for Progressives

Donate/寄付

Please support our work. This includes costs involved in producing this news site as well as our free hosting service for activists, teachers and students. Donations/寄付 can be sent to us via PayPal or Donately. You can also click on the buttons below to make a one-time donation.




Work with us

TokyoProgressive
supports and participates in projects of like-minded people and groups directly (technical, editing, design) and not-so directly (financial or moral support). Likewise, we also welcome contributions by readers that are consistent with promoting social justice. If you have a project you would like help with, or if you would like to submit an article, link, or report on a protest activity, please contact us here.

Footer

All opinions are those of the original authors and may not reflect the views of TokyoProgressive. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for by copyright law in several countries. The material on this site is distributed without profit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyleft 1997-present: tokyoprogressive dot org

TokyoProgressive supports and participates in projects of like-minded people and groups directly (technical, editing, design) and not-so directly (financial or moral support). Likewise, we also welcome contributions by readers that are consistent with promoting social justice. If you have a project you would like help with, or if you would like to submit an article, link, or report on a protest activity, please contact us here.

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in