NOVANEWS
After his wife died of cancer and a journalist dedicated to revealing the horrors of war: The two Japanese hostages held captive by ISIS
- New video featuring ‘Jihadi John’ threatens to kill two Japanese hostages
- Demands $200m in 72 hours to save Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruma Yukawa
- Yukawa ‘seized in Syria in August after going there to train with militants’
- Video shows him firing an AK-47 with caption: ‘Syria war in Aleppo 2014’
- Goto is freelance journalist who went to report on Syria’s civil war last year
By SIMON TOMLINSON FOR MAILONLINE
One is a self-proclaimed military consultant who sought a new life in conflict zones after his wife died of cancer.
The other is a journalist who risked everything to highlight the horrors of war.
Today, they were paraded together in the most terrifying of circumstances after being threatened with execution by the Islamic State.
Japanese nationals Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa have appeared in the latest ISIS video in which the terror group warns they will be beheaded unless their government pays a $200m ransom.
It comes two days after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged the same amount in non-military support for countries fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The video, identified as being made by the group’s al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats it has made.
The clip, posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, featured the British-accented militant widely known as ‘Jihadi John’ who appeared in the beheading videos of four Western hostages last year.
Ransom: A video purportedly from ISIS shows Japanese hostages Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa in orange jumpsuits with a British-accented jihadi demanding $200 million in exchange for their lives.
Yukawa is a 42-year-old widower who reportedly has a history of attempted suicide and self-mutilation after his military goods business went bankrupt and his wife died of cancer
In the line of fire: Footage on Kenji Goto Jogo’s last Twitter post in October shows him talking in front of the Syrian city of Kobani (above), which has been under siege from ISIS fighters for months
Yukawa is a 42-year-old widower who reportedly has a history of attempted suicide and self-mutilation after his military goods business went bankrupt and his wife died of cancer.
He even considered cutting off his genitals because of his perceived failures in life, deciding that he would instead ‘live as a woman and leave the rest to destiny’.
He travelled to Iraq and Syria last year after telling friends and family that he thought it represented a last chance to turn his life around.
Pictures on his Facebook page show him in Iraq and Syria in July.
