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Image on Video Purports to Show Decapitated Body of Japanese Hostage of ISIS Video Appears to Show Decapitated Body of a Japanese Hostage of ISIS
(about 1 hour later)
TOKYO — The Japanese government expressed outrage at an image released Saturday that purported to show the decapitated body of one of two Japanese hostages captured by Islamic State militants and President Obama condemned what he called a “brutal murder.” TOKYO — The Japanese government expressed outrage at an image released Saturday that appeared to show the decapitated body of one of two Japanese hostages captured by Islamic State militants, and President Obama condemned what he called a “brutal murder.”
The kidnappers had threatened to kill the men if a Friday deadline had passed for a $200 million ransom from Japan. The United States and Japanese governments had said earlier that they were working to authenticate the video containing the image. The kidnappers had threatened to kill the men if a Friday deadline passed for a $200 million ransom from Japan. Hours before Mr. Obama’s statement, the United States and Japanese governments said that they were working to authenticate the video containing the image.
SITE Intelligence, a well-known organization that tracks jihadist propaganda, said that it believed it was authentic. But Al Furqan, an ISIS-linked website that has in the past posted videos of the group’s beheadings, had not released any video or message confirming the killing by midday Saturday. SITE Intelligence, a well-known organization that tracks jihadist propaganda, said that it believed it was authentic. But Al Furqan, a media arm of the Islamic State that has in the past posted videos of the group’s beheadings, had not released any video or message confirming the killing by midday Saturday.
A statement by SITE said the video was posted on Islamic State-linked Twitter accounts. A statement by SITE said the video was posted on Twitter accounts linked to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
President Obama, who was traveling to India, issued a statement saying that the “United States strongly condemns the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Haruna Yukawa by the terrorist group ISIL.” President Obama, who was traveling to India, issued a statement saying that the “United States strongly condemns the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Haruna Yukawa by the terrorist group ISIL.” An audio message that accompanied the video released Saturday said the dead hostage was Mr. Yukawa, 42, who has been described as an adventurer.
An audio clip that accompanied the video released Saturday identified the hostage as Mr. Yukawa, 42, who has been described as an adventurer. The other hostage, Kenji Goto, 47, a journalist, appeared to be alive in the video. The other hostage, Kenji Goto, 47, a journalist, appeared to be alive in the video. Mr. Yukawa would be the first Japanese person to be killed by the Islamic State, which has established a self-proclaimed caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq financed partly by ransom payments for kidnapped foreigners.
“This action is an unforgivable act of violence that leaves us at a loss for words, and we condemn it,” the Japanese government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said at a hastily arranged midnight news conference. “We strongly urge that the remaining hostage, Mr. Goto, not be harmed and be immediately released.” The two men’s fate have become a fixation in Japan in recent days and a major challenge for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Political analysts have said the killing might turn Japan’s still pacifist public against Mr. Abe’s efforts to give the nation a more active role in global affairs. The size of the ransom demand for the two hostages matched the amount of aid that Mr. Abe pledged last weekend to help with refugee relief and other nonlethal efforts by nations in the Middle East to deal with the Islamic State.
The two men’s fate has become a fixation in Japan and a major challenge for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. A grim-faced Mr. Abe returned to the prime minister’s office in the middle of the night to oversee this latest twist to the hostage crisis, which began Tuesday when a video appeared online showing the two hostages kneeling as a knife-wielding militant threatened to kill them. As he let the ransom deadline pass, apparently without paying the money, Mr. Abe had vowed that Japan would not be intimidated. After the image of the corpse appeared on Saturday, a grim-faced Mr. Abe rushed to the prime minister’s office to oversee this latest twist to the hostage crisis that began Tuesday, when a video appeared online showing the hostages kneeling as a knife-wielding militant threatened to kill them.
Mr. Abe held an emergency meeting of his ministers Saturday, during which he said he directed them to use every possible avenue to free Mr. Goto.
“I feel strong outrage,” Mr. Abe told reporters after the meeting. “The Japanese government will not give in to terrorism and will continue to contribute to the peace and stability of the international community and the world.”“I feel strong outrage,” Mr. Abe told reporters after the meeting. “The Japanese government will not give in to terrorism and will continue to contribute to the peace and stability of the international community and the world.”
Mr. Yukawa would be the first Japanese person to be killed by the Islamic State, which has established a self-proclaimed caliphate that is financed partly by extortion and the kidnapping of foreigners. The group has beheaded two Americans and two Britons in recent months and showcased the killings via Internet video postings. In the three-minute audio recording released Saturday, the voice of a man who claimed to be Mr. Goto said Mr. Yukawa had been “slaughtered” and blamed Mr. Abe’s failure to pay the ransom. The audio is addressed to Mr. Goto’s wife, telling her that the Islamic State was now demanding the release of a woman imprisoned in Jordan, Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, for her part in a devastating suicide bomb attack there in 2005.
In the three-minute audio recording released Saturday, the voice of a man who claimed to be Mr. Goto said Mr. Yukawa had been “slaughtered” and blamed Mr. Abe’s failure to pay the ransom that had been demanded. The audio was addressed to Mr. Goto’s wife, telling her that the Islamic State has changed its demands, offering to return Mr. Goto in exchange for the release of Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, a woman imprisoned in Jordan for her part in a devastating suicide bomb attack there that killed 57 people in 2005.
“They no longer want money,” the voice says in accented English. “You bring them their sister from the Jordanian regime, and I will be released immediately. Me for her. Don’t let these be my last words you ever hear. Don’t let Abe also kill me.”“They no longer want money,” the voice says in accented English. “You bring them their sister from the Jordanian regime, and I will be released immediately. Me for her. Don’t let these be my last words you ever hear. Don’t let Abe also kill me.”
News of the video’s release came after Mr. Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, issued a tearful plea at a Tokyo news conference Friday to the kidnappers, beseeching them to spare his life and asserting that he was not an enemy of Islam. In the audio, the voice says he is Kenji Goto Jogo, but it remained unclear late Saturday why that was different from the name given by the Japanese government and his own website.
As the deadline on Friday afternoon Tokyo time passed, with no immediate word on the fate of the hostages, the Japanese government said it was still trying to contact the kidnappers and confirm whether the men were alive. The devastating attack in Jordan in November 2005 — a triple bombing of hotels in Jordan’s capital, Amman — killed 57 people. Ms. Rishawi’s husband blew himself up in a wedding hall, but her suicide belt failed to detonate.
Japan paid to free kidnapped citizens in at least one previous case, in 1999, spending $3 million to secure the release of four mining experts held in Kyrgyzstan. Japanese officials never specified whether they were willing to pay any ransom to the Islamic State. Ms. Rishawi is Iraqi, and her family comes from a prominent tribe in Anbar Province, where in 2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq was entrenched and which the Islamic State holds sway today.
The Islamic State has beheaded three Americans and two Britons in recent months and showcased the killings via Internet video postings. The release of the video came after Mr. Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, issued a tearful plea at a Tokyo news conference Friday to the kidnappers, beseeching them to spare his life and asserting that he was not an enemy of Islam.
On Saturday, Japanese officials said that they still had not reached the kidnappers or confirmed their location despite days of what they described as frantic efforts to do so. Japanese officials never specified whether they were willing to pay any ransom to the Islamic State. Japan paid to free kidnapped citizens in at least one previous case, in 1999, spending $3 million to secure the release of four mining experts held in Kyrgyzstan.
“This action is an unforgivable act of violence that leaves us at a loss for words, and we condemn it,” said the top Japanese government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga. “We strongly urge that the remaining hostage, Mr. Goto, not be harmed and be immediately released.”
As hope that the hostages would be freed alive has dwindled, Mr. Abe has faced criticism for embroiling Japan in a conflict of little direct import to his nation. On the whole, however, the debate has been relatively muted, as the nation anxiously awaited the fate of the hostages.
Amateur videos, however, have appeared online calling for the release of the hostages. Some show people holding up signs saying, “I am Kenji,” echoing the “I am Charlie” rallying cry that spread in France after the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo. Mr. Goto is a freelance journalist with experience covering wars and humanitarian crises whose photos have appeared on the front pages of many Japanese newspapers.
He vanished in late October, after reportedly going into Syria to seek the release of Mr. Yukawa, who was captured by Islamic State fighters in August.