ISIS beheads Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, makes new demands for Kenji Goto
The Islamic State (ISIS,IS) reportedly released a new video Saturday claiming one of the two Japanese captives has been beheaded and issuing new demands for the other hostage’s release.
In the video, Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto holds a photo that purportedly shows the dead body of the second hostage, Haruna Yukawa. SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors extremist websites, said the video had been distributed across several Islamic State-linked Twitter accounts.
The Japanese government said it is seeking to verify the video, BBC reported. A government spokesman called the apparent execution of Yukawa “outrageous” and “unacceptable.”
In his message, Goto reportedly “places blame” Japan’s prime minister for Yukawa’s death and says that the Islamic State now wants the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an alleged attempted suicide bomber, who is believed to be connected to the attack on a hotel in Jordan in 2005.
“Their demand is easier. They are being fair. They no longer want money. So you don’t need to worry about funding terrorists. They are just demanding the release of their imprisoned sister Sajida al-Rishawi,” he said.
Sajida al-Rishawi is currently in prison in Jordan. During the 2005 attack in Amman her suicide belt didn’t detonate and she survived. Later she was captured and confessed, but later retracted her confession.
She was sentenced to death in 2006, but appealed to the court and the case is still in process of appeal.
Goto was abducted after entering Syria to search for Yukawa, the 42-year-old founder of a private security firm who was taken captive in August, according to reports on Japanese television.
The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated that he will stand by his country’s commitment not to pay ransoms while speaking on the phone with UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday, Kyodo news agency reported.
Abe said multiple times that that he will not give in to terrorism. However, his government vowed to rescue the Japanese nationals, with the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stating that the government “is doing everything it can, and saving lives is the top priority.”