2015-01-21 19:34:19 AP. NYT
Japan weighs ransom in Islamic State threat to kill hostages
POSTED: 12:16 p.m. HST, Jan 20, 2015
LAST UPDATED: 12:17 p.m. HST, Jan 20, 2015
Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours, demanding a $200 million ransom in a video posted online Tuesday that showed a knife-brandishing masked militant standing over the two kneeling captives.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was traveling in the Middle East, vowed to save the men. But with his military only operating in a self-defense capacity at home, Abe faces a hard choice: openly pay the extremists or ask an ally like the United States to attempt a risky rescue inside Syria.
Tuesday's video, released via militant websites associated with the Islamic State group, mirrored other hostage threats the extremists have made. In it, the captives, 47-year-old Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, were shown in orange jumpsuits with a rocky hill in the background, a black-clad militant standing between them. The scene resembles others featuring five hostages previously beheaded by the Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.
Speaking in English with a British accent, the militant demanded $200 million for the men's release and appeared to link the ransom to a pledge Abe made Saturday of nonmilitary aid to help the government of Iraq and to assist Syrian refugees who have fled the Islamic State's brutality.
"To the prime minister of Japan ... you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," said the masked man, who looked and sounded like the militant shown in other filmed beheadings.
"And to the Japanese public: Just as your government has made the foolish decision to pay $200 million to fight the Islamic State, you now have 72 hours to pressure your government in making a wise decision, by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens," he said.
"Otherwise, this knife will become your nightmare.
Japanese officials said they would analyze the video to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men.
"Their lives are the top priority," the Japanese leader told journalists in Jerusalem as he wrapped up a six-day visit to the Middle East. "Extremism and Islam are completely different things."
Abe and others in his government declined to say whether they would pay a ransom, though Abe dispatched his deputy foreign minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, to Jordan to seek the country's support in resolving the hostage crisis.
Agreeing to the Islamic State group's demands would run contrary to allies like the U.S. and Britain, which have a strict policy of not paying ransoms.
The State Department had no immediate comment on whether the U.S. was urging Japan not to pay. Secretary of State John Kerry planned to speak later with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the hostage crisis, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
In a statement, she said the U.S. "strongly condemns ISIL's threat to murder Japanese citizens," and called for the immediate release of all hostages. "The United States is fully supportive of Japan in this matter. We stand in solidarity with Japan and are coordinating closely," the statement said.
N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for the immediate release of the Japanese hostages and all other captives.
Though Abe has said he wants a more-muscular Japanese military, he has ruled out sending troops overseas and Japan's constitution, drafted during the American occupation following World War II, commits the country to pacifism. That would put the onus on partners like the U.S. to attempt any hostage rescue.
In early July, U.S. special forces launched a secret raid into Syria to try to free American hostages held by the Islamic State group, killing several militants, but finding no captives.
The two Japanese hostages said nothing during the video.
Goto is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria's civil war last year."I'm in Syria for reporting," Goto wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October, before he was abducted. "I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it."
Yukawa, the founder of a private security company, was kidnapped in Syria in August after going there to train with militants, according to a post on a blog he kept.
Nobuo Kimoto, an adviser to Yukawa's company, told Japanese television station NHK that he had worried "something like this could happen sooner or later."
Tuesday's video marks the first time the Islamic State group has publicly demanded cash. The extremists requested $132.5 million from hostage James Foley's parents and political concessions from Washington, though neither was granted, U.S. authorities say, and Foley was subsequently beheaded. They asked for a similar amount for two other American hostages, authorities have said.
The Islamic State group has suffered recent losses in U.S.-led airstrikes, and with global oil prices down, their revenue from selling stolen oil has dropped. The extremists also have made money from extortion and robbing banks during its August offensive in Iraq.
Before the oil price drop, the Islamic State group made as much as $2 million a day selling pilfered oil, and used the funds to pacify as many as 8 million people living in its self-declared caliphate, said Greg Ohannessian, an analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
"Now with oil dropping by 60 percent, that is going to be cutting into their income," Ohannessian said. "That is definitely going to have an impact on their capacity to maintain the population."
The group released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq over the weekend, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group didn't have the money to care for them.
Besides Foley, the Islamic State group has beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig, Israeli-American Steven Sotloff, and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning.
The group has also shot dead hundreds of captives ― mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers ― and has celebrated its mass killings in graphic videos.
The extremists still hold British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.
This is Abe's second Mideast hostage crisis since becoming prime minister. The first came two years ago when al-Qaida-affiliated militants attacked an Algerian natural gas plant, killing 37 foreigners, including 10 Japanese. Seven Japanese workers survived.
What Abe and others in Japan fear is a replay of 2004, when followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded a Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda, over the country sending troops to Iraq to do humanitarian work. A video by al-Zarqawi's group, which later became the Islamic State group, showed Koda begging Japan's then-prime minister to save him.
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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem, Razan Alzayani in Dubai, Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
◉ ◉ Detail
日本時間16時間前。
Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours, demanding a $200 million ransom in a video posted online Tuesday that showed a knife-brandishing masked militant standing over the two kneeling captives.
カイロ - イスラム国家群がビデオで2億ドル身代金を要求して、72時間以内に二人の日本人人質を殺すと脅し、オンライン投稿を火曜日ひざまずいた捕虜2人にナイフ振り回しマスクし戦闘的態度を示した。
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was traveling in the Middle East, vowed to save the men. But with his military only operating in a self-defense capacity at home, Abe faces a hard choice: openly pay the extremists or ask an ally like the United States to attempt a risky rescue inside Syria.
Tuesday's video, released via militant websites associated with the Islamic State group, mirrored other hostage threats the extremists have made. In it, the captives, 47-year-old Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, were shown in orange jumpsuits with a rocky hill in the background, a black-clad militant standing between them. The scene resembles others featuring five hostages previously beheaded by the Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.
中東を旅行した安倍首相は、人を救うことを誓った。 しかし、彼の軍隊 自衛隊はが唯一国内でしか自己防衛能力がない、安倍は、ハードな選択に直面している：公然と過激派を支払うか、シリア内部の危険な救助を試みるように米国のような同盟国に尋ねるかだ。
イスラム国家グループに関連付けられた戦闘的なウェブサイトを介してリリースした火曜日のビデオは、過激派が捕えている他の人質の脅威を反映した。 その中で、捕虜、47歳の後藤謙次と42歳の湯川春菜は、黒装束の過激派、それらの間に立って、バックグラウンドでロッキーヒルとオレンジ色のジャンプスーツに示した。 このシーンは以前にイラクとシリアの3分の1を支配しているイスラム国家グループ、によって5人の人質の斬首をフィーチャーしているのに似ている。
Speaking in English with a British accent, the militant demanded $200 million for the men's release and appeared to link the ransom to a pledge Abe made Saturday of nonmilitary aid to help the government of Iraq and to assist Syrian refugees who have fled the Islamic State's brutality.
"To the prime minister of Japan ... you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," said the masked man, who looked and sounded like the militant shown in other filmed beheadings.
"And to the Japanese public: Just as your government has made the foolish decision to pay $200 million to fight the Islamic State, you now have 72 hours to pressure your government in making a wise decision, by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens," he said.
"Otherwise, this knife will become your nightmare.
Japanese officials said they would analyze the video to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men.
"Their lives are the top priority," the Japanese leader told journalists in Jerusalem as he wrapped up a six-day visit to the Middle East. "Extremism and Islam are completely different things."
Abe and others in his government declined to say whether they would pay a ransom, though Abe dispatched his deputy foreign minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, to Jordan to seek the country's support in resolving the hostage crisis.
Agreeing to the Islamic State group's demands would run contrary to allies like the U.S. and Britain, which have a strict policy of not paying ransoms.
英国人のアクセントで喋る過激派は男性のリリースのために2億ドル要求し、安倍がイラクの政府を支援するため、イスラム国家の残虐行為を逃れてきたシリア難民を支援するための非軍事援助の土曜日をした公約に身代金をリンクに見えた。
「日本の総理大臣に...あなたは喜んでこの十字軍に参加するために志願してきた、」その仮面の過激派の男は他の撮影斬首画面のように見えた。
「そして日本国民へ：あなたがたの政府がイスラム国家と戦うために2億ドルを支払うために愚かな決断をしたのと同じように、あなたがたは今の命を救うために2億ドルを支払うことで、賢明な決断を行う際にあなたの国の政府に圧力をかける72時間を持っている、」 "と彼は言った。
「それ以外の場合、このナイフはあなたの悪夢になります。」
日本の政府関係者は、彼が男性を解放することを約束したよう安倍にはためらいを提供しなかったけれども、彼らは、その正当性を確認するためにビデオを分析すると述べた。
彼は中東への6日間の訪問を終えた「彼らの生活が最優先され、「日本の指導者は、エルサレムでジャーナリストに語った。 「過激主義とイスラムは完全に異なるものです。」
安倍は、人質事件の解決に国の支援を求めてヨルダンに、彼の外務次官、中山泰秀を派遣しても安倍と彼の政府内の他は、彼らが身代金を支払うことになるかどうか明言を避けた。
イスラム国家グループの要求に同意して身代金を払っていないの厳格な方針を持っている米国や英国などの同盟国、に反して実行されます。
The State Department had no immediate comment on whether the U.S. was urging Japan not to pay. Secretary of State John Kerry planned to speak later with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the hostage crisis, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
In a statement, she said the U.S. "strongly condemns ISIL's threat to murder Japanese citizens," and called for the immediate release of all hostages. "The United States is fully supportive of Japan in this matter. We stand in solidarity with Japan and are coordinating closely," the statement said.
N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for the immediate release of the Japanese hostages and all other captives.
Though Abe has said he wants a more-muscular Japanese military, he has ruled out sending troops overseas and Japan's constitution, drafted during the American occupation following World War II, commits the country to pacifism. That would put the onus on partners like the U.S. to attempt any hostage rescue.
In early July, U.S. special forces launched a secret raid into Syria to try to free American hostages held by the Islamic State group, killing several militants, but finding no captives.
国務省は、米国が支払うことはない日本を促すたかどうかには直接のコメントはありませんでした。 国務長官ジョン·ケリーは、人質事件で日本の外務大臣岸田文雄と後で話すことを計画し、広報担当ジェンPsakiは語った。
声明の中で、彼女は私たちが「強く、日本国民を殺害するISILの脅威を非難」し、すべての人質の即時解放を求めた。 「米国はこの問題で日本の完全に支持している。私たちは、日本との連帯に立つと密接にコーディネートされた、 "とジェンPsakiは語った。
メインストーリー
国連事務総長潘基文は、日本の人質とすべての他の捕虜の即時放出を要求した。
安倍は、彼がもっと筋肉質の日本軍を望んでいると述べたが、彼は第二次世界大戦、次のアメリカの占領中に起草され、海外に派兵し、日本の憲法は除外している、平和主義に国をコミットします。 つまり、すべての人質の救出を試みるために、米国のようなパートナーのONUS,責任,に依存している。
7月初め、米特殊部隊は、数人の過激派を殺した、しかし捕虜を見つけていない、イスラム国家グループが保有する米国人人質を解放しようとするシリアに秘密の襲撃を開始しました。
The two Japanese hostages said nothing during the video.
Goto is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria's civil war last year."I'm in Syria for reporting," Goto wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October, before he was abducted. "I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it."
Yukawa, the founder of a private security company, was kidnapped in Syria in August after going there to train with militants, according to a post on a blog he kept.
Nobuo Kimoto, an adviser to Yukawa's company, told Japanese television station NHK that he had worried "something like this could happen sooner or later."
Tuesday's video marks the first time the Islamic State group has publicly demanded cash. The extremists requested $132.5 million from hostage James Foley's parents and political concessions from Washington, though neither was granted, U.S. authorities say, and Foley was subsequently beheaded. They asked for a similar amount for two other American hostages, authorities have said.
二人の日本人人質は、ビデオ中に何も言わなかった。
彼が拉致される前に後藤はシリアの内戦昨年の報告に行きました尊敬すべき日本のフリーランスのジャーナリストである。「私は報告のためにシリアにいる、「後藤は、10月にAP通信のジャーナリストに電子メールに書いている。 「私は私がどこから雰囲気を伝えるとそれを共有することができることを願っています。」
湯川、民間の警備会社の創設者は、彼のブログ上の記事によると、過激派に訓練するためにそこに行くがその後8月にシリアで誘拐された。
木本信夫、湯川の会社の顧問は、彼が心配していたことを日本のテレビ局NHKに語った「遅かれ早かれこのようなことが起こることを心配している。」
火曜日のビデオはイスラム国家群が公に現金を要求したのは初めて。 米国当局が言うと、フォーリーがその後斬首たれたが過激派は、人質ジェームズ·フォーリーの両親とワシントンからの政治的譲歩から1.325億ドルを要求した。 彼らは他の二つのアメリカ人人質のために同様の金額を求めたが、どちらも認めれていなかった。
The Islamic State group has suffered recent losses in U.S.-led airstrikes, and with global oil prices down, their revenue from selling stolen oil has dropped. The extremists also have made money from extortion and robbing banks during its August offensive in Iraq.
Before the oil price drop, the Islamic State group made as much as $2 million a day selling pilfered oil, and used the funds to pacify as many as 8 million people living in its self-declared caliphate, said Greg Ohannessian, an analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
"Now with oil dropping by 60 percent, that is going to be cutting into their income," Ohannessian said. "That is definitely going to have an impact on their capacity to maintain the population."
The group released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq over the weekend, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group didn't have the money to care for them.
Besides Foley, the Islamic State group has beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig, Israeli-American Steven Sotloff, and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning.
The group has also shot dead hundreds of captives ― mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers ― and has celebrated its mass killings in graphic videos.
The extremists still hold British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.
イスラム国グループは、米国主導の空爆の最近の損失を被っており、グローバルでの石油ダウン価格は、盗まれた油を売ってから彼らの収入が減少している。 過激派はまた、イラクでの8月攻勢の間、強要と強盗、銀行からお金を奪った。
原油価格下落の前に、イスラム国家群がコソ泥した石油を販売する限り200万ドルを1日を作り、800万人が、自己宣言したカリフに住んでいるような多くのようになだめるために資金を使用している。グレッグOhannessian、アナリストは語る近東湾岸軍事分析のためのドバイベースの研究所。said.
「今、60％のオイル価格が下落し、それが彼らの収入に切断されようとしている、「Ohannessianは語った。 「それは間違いなくイスラム国グループはその彼らの支配地域の人口を維持する能力に影響を持っているとしている。」
グループには、グループが彼らの世話をするためにお金を持っていなかったことを、イラク当局者による憶測に拍車をかけ、週末にイラクでのいくつかの主に200人の高齢者ヤズィーディーの人質を解放した。
フォーリーのほか、イスラム国家グループがアメリカの人質ピーターKassig、イスラエル系アメリカ人のスティーブン·ソットロフ、および英国の捕虜デヴィッド·ヘインズとアランヘニングを斬首している。
主にシリアとイラクの兵士 - - グループはまた捕虜の死者数百人を射殺しており、グラフィックのビデオで、その大量殺戮を祝っています。
過激派はまだ英国のジャーナリスト、ジョン他の過激派のプロパガンダのビデオに出演しているキャントリィ、および26歳のアメリカ人女性を拉致されています。 米政府当局者は、女性が彼女の安全のための恐れの外に識別されないことを求めている。
This is Abe's second Mideast hostage crisis since becoming prime minister. The first came two years ago when al-Qaida-affiliated militants attacked an Algerian natural gas plant, killing 37 foreigners, including 10 Japanese. Seven Japanese workers survived.
What Abe and others in Japan fear is a replay of 2004, when followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded a Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda, over the country sending troops to Iraq to do humanitarian work. A video by al-Zarqawi's group, which later became the Islamic State group, showed Koda begging Japan's then-prime minister to save him.
Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem, Razan Alzayani in Dubai, Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
これが首相になって以来、安倍の第二次中東人質の危機である。 アルカイダ傘下の過激派は、10人の日本人を含む37人の外国人を、殺して、アルジェリアの天然ガスプラントを攻撃した際に最初は2年前に来た。 7人の日本の労働者が生存していた。
安倍と日本人は2,004年のreplayを恐れるのか、ヨルダン人過激派アブ·ムサブ·アル·ザルカウィの信者は、国が人道的な仕事をするためにイラクに軍隊を送る上で、日本のバックパッカー、Shosei倖田を斬首2004、のリプレイです。 後でイスラム状態グループになったアル·ザルカウィのグループによるビデオは、彼を救うために、日本の当時の小泉首相を物乞い倖田を示した。
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山口は東京から報告。 国連でAP通信の作家ワシントンのマシュー·リー、カイロMaamounユーセフ、東京のエレインKurtenbach、エルサレムのダニエル·エストリン、ドバイで羅山Alzayani、ベイルートのDiaaハディドとエディスM.レデラーは、このレポートに貢献した。
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