TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese journalist freed from captivity in Syria has said he is happy to go home after living in "hell" for more than three years.
Kidnapped in 2015 by al-Qaida's branch in Syria, Jumpei Yasuda was expected to return home Thursday after he was released and taken to Turkey.
Yasuda described his 40 months in captivity as "hell" both physically and mentally. He was kept in a tiny cell and tortured.
Yasuda told Japan's NHK television on a flight from Antakya in southern Turkey to Istanbul that he is happy to be going home, but feels as if he'd fallen behind the rest of the world and was uncertain how to catch up.
Yasuda is a respected journalist known for his coverage of conflict zones.
