Japan in ‘race against time’ to save ISIL hostages

TOKYO // Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe admitted on Wednesday it was a “race against time” to free two hostages snatched by extremists who are demanding US$200 million (Dh734.4m) for their lives.

A defiant Mr Abe said he would not bow to “terrorism” as he took charge of the crisis that Japan was thrust into with the release of a chilling video showing two Japanese men kneeling in the desert of Syria or Iraq.

“This is a very tough race against time, but the government will do its utmost,” he said.

“I have ordered the government to use all diplomatic channels and routes possible ... to ensure the release of the two people.”

Mr Abe, who rushed home from a tour of the Middle East, said he had sought help from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as well as from Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Japan will never yield to terrorism. Japan will do its best in the battle against the cowardice of terrorism, hand in hand with the international community,” Mr Abe said.

ISIL has murdered five Western hostages since August last year, but this is the first time it has threatened Japanese captives.

In footage posted on extremist websites Tuesday, a black-clad militant brandishing a knife addresses the camera in English, standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits identified as journalist Kenji Goto and military contractor Haruna Yukawa.

“You now have 72 hours to pressure your government into making a wise decision by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” he says.

Tokyo said it believed the deadline would expire at 2.50pm local time (9:50am UAE time) on Friday.

The militant says the sum is equal to the aid that Mr Abe pledged in support of the fight against ISIL militants, money Japan says is to help refugees fleeing the fighting in Iraq and Syria.

It emerged on Wednesday that Mr Goto, a freelance broadcast journalist told an acquaintance in Turkey that he had been sold out by a fixer.

"I was betrayed by a guide who accompanied me to Syria and I was captured by a military group," Mr Goto told the acquaintance, the Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed government sources.

A few days later, Goto’s family in Tokyo received an email from a self-proclaimed ISIL member demanding some 2 billion yen ($17 million) ransom money, the paper added.

Hiromasa Nakai, chief spokesman for the Japan Committee for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), insisted Goto was a peace-loving man.

He “has been working hard for children in the Islamic world -- not only in Syria but also in Afghanistan, Somalia and many other places,” he told AFP.

“It’s an extreme shock to us. We hope he will return safe.”

* Agence France-Presse