Tokyo, leaders of all religions pray for hostages held by Islamic State
Tokyo (AsiaNews) - Japanese Muslim, Christian and Buddhist religious have gathered outside the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pray for the release of the Japanese hostage Kenji Goto Jogo, the Christian reporter in the hands of the Islamic state in Syria, and condemn the acts of terrorists holding him prisoner. Meanwhile, a new video posted by fundamentalists shows the hostage and issues an ultimatum: "You have 24 hours time to free him. If you do not accept the prisoners exchange, he and Jordanian Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh will die".
After first
asking for $ 200 million for the release of the hostages, the Islamic
state terrorists then
killed the second Japanese prisoner - Haruna Yukawa - before changing
their demands. Now they want the liberation the Iraqi terrorist Sajida
al-Rishawi: the woman tried to blow herself up in Jordan after contributing the
9 November 2005 attack in Amman, which killed 60 people. She is currently being
held in the prisons of the Kingdom.
In the new video, Kenji Goto said to be locked up with the Jordanian air force
pilot captured after the crash of his jet in Syria. In fact Muath "will be
the first to die" if the terrorists conditions are not accepted. Haroon
Qureshi, representative of the Japan Islamic Trust of Tokyo, said yesterday
that he sent messages to "some contacts in Syria" to demand the
release of prisoners and condemned the Islamic State actions.
An anonymous Japanese government official admitted to the Japan Times that Tokyo "is incompetent in managing this crisis. All we can do is ask the cooperation of the Jordanian government to save the life of Goto". Prime Minister Abe has confirmed the fact of the indiscretion. During a special meeting of his Cabinet, he told his ministers that the situation "is extremely tough. We the government... have asked for cooperation from the Jordanian government. We feel strong indignation over this extremely vicious act. We resolutely condemn it".
The situation is no better in Jordan. The father of the kidnapped soldier, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, urged the government to "do what the Islamic state say. Everyone must know that the death of my son will mean chaos for the country." At the same time, though, the release of the female terrorist would provoke the anger of the population. Masanori Naito, professor of Islamic Studies at the University Doshisha, explains: "The Jordanian public opinion would not accept it ever. The attack that the woman led is known as the 'September 11' of Jordan, and the wound is still open. "
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