Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara announced that the release was verified on Monday, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday that the individual had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday. The person took a flight from Azerbaijan which was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday, and Kyodo News agency and other Japanese media said the former detainee later returned to Japan. The Japanese ambassador to Iran, Tamaki Tsukada, met with the individual and confirmed their good health.
The released person is widely believed to be a journalist for Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, and the Committee to Protect Journalists has named the person detained in Iran in January as a journalist at NHK. The CPJ said the NHK journalist was arrested on 20 January by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was transferred on 23 February to Evin Prison. Foreign Minister Motegi did not identify either of the people detained but said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.
Japan is pressing Iranian authorities for a full release, and Mr. Motegi said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody. The release came after Mr.
Motegi's repeated demands to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement released just after talks said that Mr. Motegi reiterated his demand for the release of the remaining detainee. Mr.
Motegi is working to win an early release of the other detainee while communicating with his family and other concerned parties, and Mr. Araghchi said he took the request seriously. This development follows the release of another Japanese citizen in March, who had been held in Iran since last June.
The Foreign Ministry said earlier this month the detainees were safe and in good health, and it only acknowledged that one was detained last year and the other one in January. The ministry gave no further details and did not say whether the two cases were related.