AMMAN: Jordan offered on Wednesday to hand over an Iraqi woman on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack if a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State was freed. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani made no mention of Japanese hostage Ke

29 Jan, 2015

"My emotions are all over the place. "A time limit has been set, and that has made me nervous," Junko Ishido told reporters at her Tokyo home.
She had earlier urged the Japanese government to do its utmost to save his life and reiterated that her son was not an enemy of Islam. Abe said Tuesday's video was "despicable". He called on Jordan to cooperate in working for Goto's quick release, but promised that Tokyo would not give in to terrorism.
Goto went to Syria in late October. According to friends and business associates, he was attempting to secure the release of Haruna Yukawa, his friend and fellow Japanese citizen who was captured in August. In the first of three videos purportedly of Goto, released last week, a black-clad masked figure with a knife said Goto and Yukawa would be killed within 72 hours if Japan did not pay Islamic State $200 million.
The captor resembled a figure from previous Islamic State videos whose threats have preceded beheadings. A video on Saturday appeared to show Goto with a picture of a beheaded Yukawa, saying his captors' demands had switched to the release of al-Rishawi.
Tuesday's video featured an audio track over a still picture that appeared to show Goto holding a picture of a now bearded Kasaesbeh. Officials involved in the crisis say Tokyo knew for months that Islamic State militants were holding two Japanese men captive, but appeared ill-prepared when the group set a ransom deadline and purportedly killed one of them.

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