ISTANBUL -- Qatar paid a ransom for the release of journalist Junpei Yasuda, according to a Britain-based human rights watcher.
The Yomiuri Shimbun was told this by Rami Abdel Rahman, chief of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who said the ransom had been 3 million dollars (about 337 million yen).
The observatory, a private organization, is monitoring the Syrian civil war. Abdel Rahman said he obtained the information from a reliable source, adding that Qatar intended to demonstrate its contribution to saving a Japanese citizen's life to the international community.
Abdel Rahman also said the Japanese government had refused to pay a ransom to a terrorist organization.
Yasuda was detained by the Levant Liberation Organization -- formerly known as the Nusra Front -- in the northwestern province of Idlib, and then handed over to an Al-Qaida-linked extremist organization. According to Abdel Rahman, Qatar and Turkey -- both are deeply involved with Syrian anti-government organizations -- negotiated with them, which led to an agreement around Friday to release him.
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