The militants appear to have killed one of the two Japanese hostages they have been holding. And they’re apparently demanding the release of a convicted terrorist in Jordan to spare the life of the other.
Here’s where things stand at the moment:
What has happened to the hostages?
A video file posted online Saturday by a known ISIS supporter shows an image of one hostage, Kenji Goto, holding a photo of what appears to be the corpse of his fellow captive, Haruna Yukawa.
The voice of a person claiming to be Goto speaks over the image, saying in English that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to blame for Yukawa’s death.
“You were given a deadline,” he says, referring to ISIS’ earlier demand that Japan pay $200 million by Friday to save the lives of the two hostages.
The voice then announces a new ultimatum: the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman facing the death penalty in Jordan for her role in a series of bombings in 2005 that killed dozens of people at hotels in the Arab kingdom.
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U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Abe by phone Sunday from New Delhi, the White House said.
Obama offered “condolences for the murder” of Yukawa by ISIS and conveyed “solidarity with the Japanese people,” according to a statement.
The U.N. Security Council said in a statement that it strongly condemns the apparent killing of Yukawa, describing it as “a heinous and cowardly act.” It demanded the immediate release of Goto.
British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested Japan was right not to bow to the terrorists’ demand for ransom, saying that “Britain strongly supports the firm stance Prime Minister Abe and his Government have taken.”
The United States and Britain both refuse to pay ransoms to terrorists. But other countries, notably France, have reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars on the release of hostages held by Islamic militants in recent years, despite denying it publicly.
Japan has also paid kidnappers to free its citizens in the past, according to The New York Times. In 1999, Tokyo handed over $3 million for the release of four mining experts held in Kyrgyzstan, the newspaper reported.
CNN’s Will Ripley, Junko Ogura, Yoko Wakatsuki and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.
