Tokyo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday he was relieved that a Japanese hostage believed to have been captured in Syria three years ago had been released, but added that the government still needed to confirm the man’s identity.

Japan had received information that a man believed to be Jumpei Yasuda, a freelance journalist, had been released, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said late on Tuesday.

The government had notified Yasuda’s wife, but still needed to confirm his identity, he said.

Yasuda, 44, had been captured by an al Qaeda affiliate after entering Syria from Turkey in 2015, according to Japanese media.

Since then he has appeared occasionally in online videos.

Speaking to reporters, Abe thanked Qatar and Turkey for their cooperation in freeing the man.

“I’m relieved to hear the information. We want to confirm whether the man is Mr Jumpei Yasuda as soon as possible,” Abe said.

Yasuda’s parents spoke to reporters outside their house near Tokyo.

“Above everything else, I want to see him being fine,” said his father, Hideaki Yasuda.

“When he’s back, I want to tell him one thing, and that’ll be ‘good job hanging in there’,” he said.