Iran has freed a Japanese national held since January, Tokyo said Tuesday, with Kyodo News reporting however that the individual is not allowed to leave the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n
The Japanese news agency also reported, citing unnamed sources within the government in Tokyo, that the person is believed to be the Tehran bureau chief of broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n
“The Japanese embassy in Iran has confirmed that a Japanese national who was detained by Iranian authorities on January 20 was released on April 6 local time,” government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.<\/p>\n
“The ambassador in Iran directly met that person after release and confirmed they were in good health,” Kihara told reporters.<\/p>\n
Kyodo News reported that the person has been released only on bail and has been charged with security-related offences and is expected to stand trial.<\/p>\n
Media reports had said in February that the NHK bureau chief was arrested on January 20 and was sent to a prison known for holding political detainees.<\/p>\n
US-funded Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty’s Radio Farda and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) both named the journalist as Shinnosuke Kawashima.<\/p>\n
The detention followed major anti-government protests that peaked in early January and which were met by a violent government crackdown that rights groups said killed thousands of people.<\/p>\n
This was before the United States and Israeli militaries began “Operation Epic Fury” on February 28 and killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
The CPJ in February cited a source as saying that in addition, NHK’s longtime videographer Mehdi Mohammedi’s passport was confiscated along with his personal devices.<\/p>\n
Another NHK staff member — whose identity CPJ said it was withholding for safety reasons — fled Iran in early February after being summoned several times, CPJ said.<\/p>\n
Contacted by AFP, NHK said it was “not in a position to comment at this time”.<\/p>\n
“We will continue to make every possible effort to ensure the safety of our employees and staff, while fulfilling our journalistic mission of contributing to the realisation of peace,” NHK said.<\/p>\n
Iran last month released another Japanese citizen — who was also not named — who was being held, with Tokyo saying on March 22 that the person would return to Japan.<\/p>\n
Japan and Iran have historically had relatively friendly relations.<\/p>\n
Shinzo Abe, premier at the time, visited the Islamic republic in 2019. Then-president Hassan Rouhani made a return visit to Japan the same year.<\/p>\n
But more recently, close US ally Japan has drastically reduced its once-substantial imports of Iranian oil as part of international pressure over Tehran’s nuclear activities.<\/p>\n
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tuesday that “arrangements” were being made for a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi late Monday Japanese time, Tokyo said.<\/p>\n
Motegi called for “an early de-escalation” and “urged Iran to engage sincerely with the diplomatic efforts currently underway among the relevant countries”.<\/p>\n
tmo-stu\/mtp<\/p>\n