Japan reacts in horror to killing
Toyko raises country’s security precautions after second national is beheaded
Appalled and saddened by news of journalist Kenji Goto’s purported beheading by Islamic State extremists, Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism.
The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held by the militant group that controls about one-third of both Syria and Iraq. Unlike some earlier messages delivered in the crisis, Goto did not mention the pilot in the video that circulated online late Saturday purporting to show a militant beheading.
Jordan renewed an offer Sunday to swap an al-Qaida prisoner for the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was seized after his F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group’s de facto capital, Raqqa, Syria, in December.
A government spokesman, Mohammed al-Momani, said “we are still ready to hand over” Sajida al-Rishawi, who faces death by hanging for her role in triple hotel bombings in Jordan in 2005.
Al-Momani also said his country spared no effort to free Goto.
The slaying of Goto, a freelance reporter whose work focused on refugees, children and other victims of war, shocked this country, which until now had not become directly embroiled in the fight against the militants.
“I feel indignation over this immoral and heinous act of terrorism,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters after convening an emergency cabinet meeting. “When I think of the grief of his family, I am left speechless. We are filled with deep regret.”
Threats from the Islamic State group prompted an order for tighter security at airports and at Japanese facilities overseas, such as embassies and schools, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.
The UN Security Council issued a statement Sunday demanding “the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all those who are kept hostage” by the Islamic State group. Council members underlined the need to bring those responsible for Goto’s “heinous and cowardly murder” to justice and stressed that the Islamic State group “must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out.”
Jordan’s foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, said the country remains “as committed as ever” to a U.S.-led military coalition against Islamic State.
Islamic State had demanded al-Rishawi’s release last week, and in response Jordan offered to swap her for the pilot. But the militants didn’t say at the time if they were considering such a deal. An audio message last week, purportedly from the terrorist group, only said the pilot would be killed if al-Rishawi was not released Thursday.
That deadline passed, with alRishawi remaining in custody, after Jordan said it cannot free her without proof that the pilot is alive.
Judeh said Jordan, a staunch western ally, is not secondguessing its participation in the military coalition over the hostage drama.
“We have said before, and we continue to say, that this is our fight and we are in this together for the long haul and we are as committed as ever,” he told the CBS program Face the Nation by phone from Jordan.
The coalition has been attacking Islamic State targets from the air since September. The militants control about one-third each of Syria and Iraq which border Jordan.
Jordan’s king has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values. In a statement carried by the official news agency Petra on Sunday, he called for “concerted international efforts against terrorism and extremism.”
However, Jordan’s participation in airstrikes against fellow Muslims is not popular among Jordanians. The hostage crisis has prompted more vocal criticism of the government’s position, including from the pilot’s family.
Such sentiments could intensify pressure on the government to dial back its role in the coalition, said David Schenker, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He said he expects the country to remain a primary base of air operations against the Islamic State group, but that the pilot’s capture may “make the kingdom more hesitant to put their troops in harm’s way.”
Experts are divided over whether Jordan faces a greater threat from extremists outside its borders or from those within.