LEAD: Iraqi hostage-taker says beheaded Japanese wasn't tortured

BAGHDAD, March 6 Kyodo

(EDS: INCORPORATING REPORT FROM IRAQI TELEVISION, OTHER INFO THROUGHOUT)

An Iraqi man who has confessed to his involvement in the murder of a Japanese backpacker in 2004 said Monday that Shosei Koda was not tortured during his captivity.

''We did not inflict any torture on him during his confinement,'' Hussein Fahmi, 26, told Kyodo News in a facility of the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad. ''He pleaded for his release with tears in his eyes,'' Fahmi said.

Fahmi, who faces multiple charges including another murder, also said five people were involved in the slaying of the 24-year-old Japanese man, who was found dead in the Iraqi capital on Oct. 30, 2004.

An official of the Iraqi Interior Ministry earlier said authorities have not yet pinned down what group abducted Koda.

The mastermind behind the operation, called Sael (phonetic), and Koda communicated in English, Fahmi said. The culprits gave Koda food and water while they held him hostage in Baghdad for three days, Fahmi said.

But Fahmi said he had difficulty comprehending what Koda and Sael talked about as he does not speak English.

Fahmi said earlier the group murdered Koda because the Japanese government rejected its call to pull Self-Defense Forces troops out of the Middle Eastern country.

A video footage by the Iraqi television al-Iraqiya also showed Fahmi saying he was paid 200,000 Iraqi dinars (about US$135) by the mastermind for killing Koda and engaging in other acts.

The alleged ringleader is currently being detained by the U.S. military, which has refused to hand him over to the Iraqi government, according to Iraqi officials.

Iraqi television reported Sunday night Fahmi was served an arrest warrant by the Interior Ministry's special forces over the killing of Koda.

An Iraqi security forces official said Fahmi is suspected of killing more than 900 Iraqi and foreign nationals.

Koda is believed to have entered Iraq from Amman in late October 2004 and to have been abducted by a group linked to al-Qaida, the Japanese government said earlier.

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