TOKYO, Oct 27 (AFP) - The Japanese man facing execution by Islamic militants in Iraq is a 24-year-old drifter whose family had not heard from him for months, a government spokesman and the hostage's father said Wednesday.
The father identified Shosei Koda, 24, after seeing a video from Islamist militants who have threatened to kill his son if Japan does not withdraw troops from Iraq within 48 hours, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
"I heard he has been wandering around many countries," Hosoda told reporters.
"Mr Koda has nothing to do with the Self-Defence Forces," Hosoda said, referring to Japan's military. "He is a private citizen."
"We demand his immediate release," he said, reiterating that Japan would not withdraw troops from Iraq.
Public broadcaster NHK, quoting Koda's father, said the young man came from the southern prefecture of Fukuoka and that his whereabouts had been unknown since he left Japan for New Zealand early this year.
Hosoda said Japan, through diplomatic channels, had confirmed Koda had entered Iraq.
Asked why the young man chose to go to the insurgency-torn country, Hosoda said, "I don't know."
The Islamic militant group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a video released Tuesday on the Internet showed a shaggy-haired Japanese-speaking man in a white T-shirt seated next to three armed and masked men.
"We are giving the Japanese government 48 hours in which to withdraw its troops from Iraq, otherwise this infidel will join the others (executed)," a militant said in the video.
10/27/2004 03:16 GMT - AFP