18 April 2007: for immediate release
CND today expressed great sadness at the unexpected and untimely death of Itcho Ito, Mayor of Nagasaki, who was assassinated yesterday outside his campaign headquarters ahead of next Sunday’s mayoral election.
Mayor Ito was a leading member of the Mayors for Peace organisation, which works for global nuclear disarmament. As mayor of one of the two Japanese cities devastated by nuclear weapons, Ito represented the voice of hundreds of thousands of Nagasaki residents who were killed or severely injured by the US ‘Fat Man’ atomic bomb on 9 August 1945.
After a meeting with Kate Hudson, Chair of CND, in August 2003, Mayor Ito said:
‘Please continue to build your actions for the abolition of nuclear weapons.’
Hiroshi Taka, General Secretary of Gensuikyo, the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, said:
‘Representing the Hibakusha and many other citizens of an A-bombed city, Mayor Ito stood in the forefront in the effort to abolish nuclear weapons, joining actions worldwide with other NGOs, including the Hague Peace Conference in 1999 and the NPT Review Conference and related actions of citizens in May 2005 in New York. The role played by the mayor in pursuit of a nuclear weapon-free world was irreplaceable.’
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said:
‘We are shocked and saddened by the death of Mayor Ito. This senseless act of violence has taken from the world a strong voice for peace and sanity through the abolition of nuclear weapons.’
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Notes to Editor:
1. For further information and interviews please contact Rick Wayman, CND’s Press & Communications Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
2.The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.