Last Thursday, the Islamic State group detailed its main reason behind the hostage-taking and subsequent killing of two Japanese civilians Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. They emphasized that they have already that feeling that Japan had no intention to ransom the hostaged civilians and revealing that they had intended to humiliate the country itself.
According to International Business Times, the Thursday issue of an English-language magazine Dabiq detailed the intentions behind the hostage taking that lead to the beheading of two Japanese civilians. As mentioned, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had already known about Goto and Yukawa's hostage situation when he pledged $200 million in nonmilitary aid to the Middle East to fight against ISIS.
The magazine's foreword cited, "What begot him into 'forgetting' that the Islamic State had two Japanese prisoners inside its jails awaiting the blunders of Japanese leadership ... The [caliphate] was not in need of the money and knew fully that the Japanese would never provide the sum, but it had decided - by this demand - to humiliate the arrogance of this Japanese government..."
The same source revealed that Goto was about to be released in exchange for detained Iraqi terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi. At that same time, it was also allegedly Yukawa was already beheaded when the ransom was not initially paid. Report said that Goto along with al-Kaseasbeh (the pilot) as Jordan, in response, has executed al-Rishawi and another Al Qaeda prisoner Ziad al-Karbouli.
After receiving the news that Goto was also beheaded by the terrorists, immediately, Japanese lawmakers passed a resolution to increase nonmilitary aid to fight against terrorism which stated, "We declare that Japan and its people resolutely denounce terrorism, and will stand firm in our pledge never to tolerate terrorism."
On the other side, a Japanese journalist was suspected for violating the Article 93 of Japan's criminal code that prohibits any form of support to wage war upon a foreign state like preparing or plotting a wage war. This kind of law is rarely enforced to any Japanese citizen.
However, for the case of Kosuke Tsuneoka, a veteran Japanese journalist,was accussed to plotting a wage war by planning to go to Syria to save two his compatriots from the Islamis State [ISIS]. Reportedly, he fled to Syria through an offer to open a negotiation with ISIS to release the two hostages.
"I think the Japanese police is still watching me, The Japanese police knows all of my phone numbers and email accounts. They are listening to this conversation, are listening to my phone calls and they are reading my emails," he said to the media by phone.
He added, "I need a new phone number and new accounts. In March, I will leave Japan and go to South East Asia. There, I will get another mobile phone, another Google account, so they [the police] can't trace me."
He ended the conversation with a brave statement. "I am not afraid of the Japanese government and the Japanese police. But I will not visit ISIS again... ISIS would contact me by email, Facebook and WhatsApp."
Previously, he had initially promised that he would do everything to negotiate the two men, however, he was forbidden to fly to Syria a day before his departure. Along with this, his 61 personal items such as his passport, airplane tickets, three computers, seven mobile phones and a number of SIM cards were confiscated. Then, he was also detained for a 24-hour questioning but not arrested.
Meanwhile, a video called "A Message to the Government of Japan" was showed where a militant with a British accent [and appeared like one] took part with the beheadings. Based from the video, a man with a knife and dressed head-to-toe in black with his covered face stood behind Goto behind before beheading him. Goto, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, was silent for a minute before he was killed.
With Japan's steadfast commitment to fight against terrorism, sacrificing the lives of the two Japanese civilians, lead the militants to threat the country as a whole with a statement, "Because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin."
Times detailed that Haruna Yukawa, 42, was a failed businessmen who hoped by trying to re-invent himself as a private military contractor and Kenji Goto, 47, was an experienced freelance journalist. The former was captured last August when he entered the ISIS-controlled territory and the latter in October when he had his quest to save Yukawa whom he met earlier.
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