Japanese hostage sues govt for role in Iraq

Nobutaka Watanabe, 36, a peace activist, filed the suit, which argues that he was kidnapped in Iraq because of the "illegal" deployment of Japanese troops, with the Tokyo District Court Tuesday, the court official said.

He is seeking a ruling that the dispatch to the southern Iraqi city of Samawa is illegal to force the government to pull back troops from Iraq, where they are providing reconstruction help.

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Watanabe is also demanding five million yen (45,700 dollars) in damages for mental and physical suffering.

The government said it could not comment in detail before reading the lawsuit.

"Generally speaking, we are likely to work with the Japan Defense Agency on the case," said a spokesman at the justice ministry.

"We have yet to examine the lawsuit. But we will probably deal with it just like other similar cases," he said.

Watanabe, who went to Iraq to monitor the activities of the Japanese troops, was captured in April along with freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda by a militant group near Baghdad. They were released unharmed after three days.