Purported ISIL message threatens Japan, Jordan hostages

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

An online message purportedly from the Islamic State warned Tuesday that a Japanese hostage and Jordanian pilot held by the militants have less than "24 hours left to live."

The group again demanded the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in Jordan for involvement in a 2005 terror attack that killed 60 people. The message said that unless al-Rishawi is released within 24 hours, journalist Kenji Goto and Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh will be killed.

The Islamic State warned it would be the group's last message and that any delay tactic would result in the hostages' deaths.

The new message matches a video released by the Islamic State on Saturday that showed a still photo of Goto holding a photo that apparently shows the dead body of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa. In that video, Goto said the Islamic State ws demanding al-Rishawi's release. USA TODAY could not independently verify either video.

Neither of the two videos bore the logo of the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm. However, several militant websites affiliated with the Islamic State group referenced Tuesday's video and posted links to it late afternoon.

The Japanese government held emergency meeting Tuesday but officials didn't comment on the message's authenticity.

"In this extremely tough situation, we are continuing as before to request the cooperation of the Jordanian government to work toward the immediate release of Mr. Goto," Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.

Goto was abducted after entering Syria to search for Yukawa, the 42-year-old founder of a private security firm who was taken captive in August, according to reports on Japanese television.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, a Japanese envoy in Jordan, earlier expressed hope the two hostages would return home "with a smile on their faces."

"I hope we can all firmly work hard and join hands to cooperate, and for the two countries (Japan and Jordan) to cooperate, in order for us to see the day when the Jordanian pilot and our Japanese national Mr. Goto, can both safely return to their own countries with a smile on their faces," he told reporters late Monday night.

It was the first time a Japanese official mentioned al-Kaseasbeh, and it wasn't clear when the pilot's possible release had entered the picture. Al-Kaseasbeh was carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State last month when his warplane crashed near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the militant group's de facto capital.

In a video released a week ago, Goto and Yukawa were shown wearing orange clothing and kneeling in the desert on either side of a masked militant holding a knife. The Islamic State demanded a $200 million ransom for the release of the two. The 72-hour deadline passed on Friday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe refused to pay a ransom.

In the video Saturday, Goto said the militants had changed their ransom demand.

"Their demand is easier. They are being fair. They no longer want money. So you don't need to worry about funding terrorists. They are just demanding the release of their imprisoned sister Sajida al-Rishawi," he said.

Japanese officials have indicated they are treating the video released over the weekend as authentic and thus accepting the likelihood that Yukawa, an adventurer captured in Syria last summer, was killed.

Securing the release of al-Rishawi would be a major propaganda coup for the Islamic State and would allow the group to reaffirm its links to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Contributing: Associated Press