Japan PM slams 'despicable' Islamist execution threat

An angry Japanese prime minister on Jan. 28 slammed as "utterly despicable" an Islamist militant threat to kill both a Japanese hostage and a Jordanian pilot unless Amman releases a jihadi bomber.
      
The clock was ticking towards the 24-hour deadline Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants set in their latest chilling video, which warned they will execute freelance journalist Kenji Goto and airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh if they do not get their way.
      
"This was an utterly despicable act, and I am appalled," Japanese premier Shinzo Abe told reporters. "I have instructed all ministers to work together for the early release of Mr Kenji Goto."       

"The government, in this extremely serious situation, has been asking for the Jordanian government's cooperation towards the early release of Mr Goto, and this policy remains unchanged," he earlier told ministers.
      
Tokyo has appealed for Jordan's help since a video emerged at the weekend in which the extremist group announced it had murdered Haruna Yukawa, a self-employed contractor it had kidnapped in August.
      
After initially demanding a $200 million ransom for the release of the two Japanese men, the group, which rules swathes of Syria and Iraq with a medieval form of Islam, said it wanted Jordan to free Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber who has been on death row since 2006.
      
Analysts said the changing demands were an attempt to divide close allies of the US-led fight against extremism in the Middle East.
      
They say the ISIL is forcing Jordan, a moderate Muslim country, into the position of trying to balance strong domestic pressure to bring its airman home with wariness of harming its important relationship...