Courtesy CNN-Two Japanese hostages, one demand from ISIS: Hand over $200 million, or else.
The
else being that the pair will meet the same gruesome fate as other
captives held by the terrorist group, others who were shown in ISIS
videos kneeling in orange jumpsuits in front of masked, black-clad men
-- just like the Japanese hostages identified as Kenji Goto Jogo and
Haruna Yukawa -- shortly before being beheaded.
In
the latest video, a masked man gives the Japanese government a choice
to pay $200 million -- the same amount of money Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
recently pledged for those "contending" with ISIS -- to free the
Japanese men. That deal holds for 72 hours, which would seem to mean
sometime Friday, since the video appeared on social media Tuesday.
Another move that theoretically could change things would be if Japan's government halts its alliance with those fighting ISIS,
which calls itself the Islamic State. Tokyo hasn't participated in
airstrikes aimed at the Islamist extremist group, though its leaders
have supported those who have, as well as the Iraqi government.
"Although
you are more than 8,500 kilometers away from the Islamic State, you
willingly volunteered to take part in this crusade," the masked man on
the video posted Tuesday says, addressing his comments to Abe.
But Abe, who is currently visiting the Middle East, didn't seem about to bargain Tuesday.
He stood by a pledge, made in a speech Sunday in Cairo, for funding to help build "human capacities, infrastructure and so on" for those affected by ISIS' armed campaign.
"The
pledge aid is very important to the refugees in need and has nothing to
do with the Islamic communities or the radical militants," the Prime
Minister said. "... We will contribute to the (region's) peace and
stability, in cooperation with the global community."
As to the ISIS threat against two of his nation's citizens, Abe called it "unacceptable."
"I feel angry about it," he said. "I strongly urge them to immediately release the hostages without harming them."
Abe: 'Terrorists should not be forgiven'
ISIS
has asked for ransoms before, and apparently has been paid them. But
rarely are such demands made publicly. Even rarer -- unprecedented, in
fact -- is when the militant group puts its captives on video and
threatens them, then lets them go.
Instead,
ISIS has made a public show out of its threatening and killings of
Western hostages, starting with August's beheading of U.S. journalist
James Foley.
Others' killings were
similarly recorded and posted online, including American journalist
Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver
Alan Henning and U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig.
While
not participating in ground combat, both the United States and Great
Britain have taken an active role in the anti-ISIS fight with airstrikes
and training, arming and otherwise supporting groups -- like Iraq's
military, Kurdish fighters and moderate Syrian opposition -- taking on
the militants face-to-face.
That's not the case for Japan,
whose post-World War II constitution allows it to use its military only
for self-defense. But Tokyo is a strong ally with Western powers, like
the United States, that have been singled out by ISIS.
In
his remarks Tuesday in Jerusalem, Abe -- who dealt with another hostage
crisis involving Islamic militants in January 2013, when 10 Japanese
citizens were caught up in the terrorist seizure of a natural gas facility in Algeria -- said he had ordered Japanese officials to do the utmost to try to save the two men.
At
the same time, the Prime Minister added, "Terrorists should not be
forgiven, for any reason. I criticize (the taking of hostages)
emphatically."
A lost soul and a journalist
The aim is to safely bring home two men who were in the same war-torn region for very different reasons.
Like
Foley and Sotloff, Goto went there to help tell the story of what was
happening in Iraq and Syria. In recent months, ISIS militants have
managed to take over vast swaths of both countries, ruthlessly going
after many in their way who don't share their extremist interpretation of Islam.
The freelance journalist reported for various Japanese news organizations about the situation in the northern Syrian battleground city of Kobani, which for weeks has been under siege by ISIS, and other areas.
While it's not known when he was taken captive, Goto's last Twitter post was on October 23.
The
man purportedly shown along with him, Yukawa, is believed to have been
captured in Syria in August while traveling with rebel fighters,
according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo.
The
42-year-old claimed to have set up a company in Tokyo providing armed
security services and posted videos online of his activities in Iraq and
Syria.
But a report by the news agency Reuters
in August portrayed him as a lost soul, who went to the Middle East
searching for a purpose after losing his wife, his business and his home
over the previous decade.
Kyodo
reported previously that Japanese officials in Jordan had being trying
to secure his release, including talking to various groups with possible
connections to his captors.
So what happens next?
Abe spoke firmly Tuesday against the terrorists and their $200 million ransom demand.
What he did not do, however, is rule out the Japanese government paying ransom or negotiating with its two citizens' captors.
Like
most countries, Japan has never advertised that it or Japanese
companies have paid ransom for hostages. In fact, Japanese government
officials have at times denied such a practice, and Japan is a signatory
to a 2013 G8 communique that stated, "We unequivocally reject the
payment of ransoms to terrorists, and we call on countries and companies
around the world to follow our lead to stamp this out."
One
reason for this policy is that ISIS and groups like it can use ransoms
to fund their bloody campaigns. Paying ransoms also may give them
incentive to take more hostages, thus putting more people at risk. And
ransoms might not always work, since ISIS and other hostage takers
aren't usually seen as trustworthy.
Still,
ruling out ransoms also rules out one peaceful way to free Goto and
Yukawa. It's possible someone else may intervene to negotiate their
release, whether out of goodwill or in exchange for something else. Or
troops from a Japanese ally could launch a raid to get to them, like the
unsuccessful one this summer to free Foley.
Either
way, others could play a role in this story before it's done -- hence
Abe's comment Tuesday that the international community "needs to deal
with terrorists without giving in to them."
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