This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/world/middleeast/video-isis-japanese-hostages.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Online Video Purports to Show Japanese Hostages Threatened by ISIS | Online Video Purports to Show Japanese Hostages Threatened by ISIS |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| LONDON — A video posted online on Tuesday, purportedly by the Islamic State extremist group, depicted a black-clad militant with a knife threatening to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours unless the government in Tokyo paid a ransom of $200 million. | LONDON — A video posted online on Tuesday, purportedly by the Islamic State extremist group, depicted a black-clad militant with a knife threatening to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours unless the government in Tokyo paid a ransom of $200 million. |
| The video, which could not immediately be verified independently, showed two men, identified as Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, kneeling on a rocky hillside, with the masked militant standing between them. | |
| The militant linked the ransom demand to a Japanese offer of assistance to enemies of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, which controls a large amount of territory stretching from Syria into Iraq. The group says it is seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate and has previously shown videos of the beheading of two Americans, James Foley and Steven J. Sotloff, and two Britons, David Cawthorne Haines and Alan Henning. | |
| “To the Japanese public, just as how your government has made the foolish decision to pay 200 million to fight the Islamic State, you now have 72 hours to pressure your government in making a wise decision by paying the 200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” the masked man said in the video, speaking with what sounded like a British accent. “Otherwise this knife will become your nightmare.” | “To the Japanese public, just as how your government has made the foolish decision to pay 200 million to fight the Islamic State, you now have 72 hours to pressure your government in making a wise decision by paying the 200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” the masked man said in the video, speaking with what sounded like a British accent. “Otherwise this knife will become your nightmare.” |
| The masked man, whose voice, manner and attire resembled those of a person who appeared in earlier videos showing beheadings, did not specify a currency, but a subtitle in Arabic identified it as American dollars, Reuters reported. | The masked man, whose voice, manner and attire resembled those of a person who appeared in earlier videos showing beheadings, did not specify a currency, but a subtitle in Arabic identified it as American dollars, Reuters reported. |
| Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan made the promise of nonmilitary assistance to foes of the Islamic State on Saturday during a visit to Cairo on a Middle East tour. | |
| The hostages in the video wore orange jumpsuits, the attire of many of the group’s captives in previous videos. The threat thrust Japan into the sort of high-profile hostage dilemma that has vexed the United States and Britain, which both say they refuse to pay ransoms. | The hostages in the video wore orange jumpsuits, the attire of many of the group’s captives in previous videos. The threat thrust Japan into the sort of high-profile hostage dilemma that has vexed the United States and Britain, which both say they refuse to pay ransoms. |
| “Our country will not be intimidated by terrorism,” the main government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said in Tokyo, “and there is no change to our policy of contributing to the international community’s fight against terrorism.” | |
| Speaking at his daily news conference, Mr. Suga said the government was still trying to confirm the authenticity of the video. He declined to answer questions about whether Japan would pay the demanded ransom. | |
| At a news conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Mr. Abe said he would not curtail his trip and would keep appointments with political leaders, but that he would skip less important engagements in order to stay on top of the hostage crisis. | |
| “Using human lives as a shield to make threats is an unforgivable terrorist act, and I am extremely indignant,” he said. “I strongly demand that they be released unharmed immediately.” | |
| The abductions were the top item on news programs in Japan, where many voters have been nervous about Mr. Abe’s efforts to give the long-pacifist nation a higher profile in international events. | |
| According to the website of Mr. Yukawa, the chief executive of the private security firm PMC, he was captured in Syria in August. He was shown last year in a video posted online lying bleeding on the ground, being interrogated in English. He told his interrogators that he was working as a doctor and a journalist, but the interrogator also asked why he was carrying a weapon. PMC’s website links to video of him firing an AK-47 assault rifle in Aleppo, Syria, along with other images of him Iraq and Syria. | |
| Mr. Goto is a freelance journalist who focuses on war, refugees, poverty, AIDS and education, according to his website, Independent Press. | |
| The video on Tuesday recalled events in November 2004, when Japan had 550 troops in Iraq as part of the American-led coalition, and Shosei Koda, a 24-year-old Japanese tourist, was kidnapped and decapitated by a militant group seeking their withdrawal. The prime minister at the time, Junichiro Koizumi, rejected the demand. | |
| “We cannot lose to terrorism,” Mr. Koizumi said, “we must not yield to brute force.” | |
| Earlier the same year, five Japanese hostages kidnapped in two separate incidents were freed and returned home to opprobrium for what was considered their selfish action in traveling to Iraq against government advice. |