Japan stepped in today, along with Jordan and other countries, to rescue a second hostage, after members of the Islamic State (IS) killed a Japanese man last weekend. "We all have one unchanging goal, and we will absolutely not give up until the end. And with that faith, we will do our best to achieve that goal," said Yasuhide Nakayama, Japan's deputy interior minister who was sent to Amman to help resolve the hostage crisis. . In Tokyo, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the government was still analyzing a released video showing one of the two hostages, Harun Yukawa, being killed.
"We can't deny that the probability is high," Suga said when asked by reporters if the posted video was authentic. Tokyo's attention is focused on efforts to rescue Kenji Gota, a 47-year-old journalist who is shown on video holding a photo of Yukawa. "Hostage Goto calls on his relatives to put pressure on the (Japanese) government to release our sister Sajida al-Rishawi, who is being held in prison in Jordan by the oppressors, in exchange for his release," IS announced yesterday. Rishawi, an Iraqi woman, was sentenced to death in Jordan in September 2006 in connection with the November 9, 2005, triple bombing in Amman that killed 60 people.
Bonus video:
