Captors take Japanese student abducted in Iran outside count

Report: Captors take Japanese student abducted in Iran outside country
The Associated PressPublished: October 20, 2007


A Japanese Foreign Ministry official Hiroyuki Kajita said he could confirm that Nakamura was safe, but could not confirm the report that he had been moved out of Iran.

A diplomat at Japanese Embassy in Tehran said officials there were trying to confirm Elham's reported comment and Nakamura's whereabouts. The move, however, does not seem to change his status as long as he is in the hands of the captors, the embassy official said on condition of anonymity, due to sensitivity of the case.

Kyodo said the captors left Iran in an apparent bid to escape the Iranian authorities' search effort, a move that could complicate Nakamura's release.

Japan's Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Itsunori Onodera, returned from Tehran on Friday after talking with Iranian officials about possible ways to secure the captive's release.

Iranian authorities have said they were hopeful Nakamura would be released soon.

Japanese officials have said Nakamura had been on holiday alone in Iran when he was abducted. His capture was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Iran's lawless southeast this year.

Bandits kidnapped 12 Iranians in August. Security forces from Pakistan freed the hostages after clashing with the gunmen.