A Japanese mom choked back tears Friday as she pleaded for her
A Japanese mom choked back tears Friday as she pleaded for her son’s life — as a ransom countdown clock ticked toward his and a fellow hostage’s execution at the hands of ISIS thugs.
“My son Kenji is not an enemy of the people of the Islamic faith,” Junko Ishido told a packed news conference, the Daily Mail reported. “I can only pray as a mother for his release. If I could offer my life, I would plead that my son be released — it would be a small sacrifice on my part.”
Ugh! You know these thugs are loving this!
Islamic State militants posted an ominous warning online Friday — along with a ticking clock and images of beheaded hostages — that the “countdown has begun” for the execution of the Japanese captives.
The militants gave Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a 72-hour deadline — which expired Friday — to pay a $200 million ransom to secure the hostages’ release.
Ishido’s son, Kenji Goto, 47, and Haruma Yukawa appeared in a video in which masked killer “Jihadi John” threatened the two — and said the ransom demand matched the amount that Abe pledged this week to help countries fighting Islamist militants, the Daily Mail reported.
Japan said its donation is for humanitarian purposes only and Abe has said saving the hostages’ lives is paramount, but that Japan will not give in to terrorism.
Yukawa, an adventurer who is about 42 years old, was captured in August outside Aleppo in Syria. Goto, a war correspondent, went to Syria in October in an effort to help Yukawa.
“He left a very young baby and left his family and I asked his wife why he made this decision and she said he had to do everything in his power to save his friend and acquaintance and that it was very important to him,” Ishido said, the Daily Mail reported.
Ishido said she was astonished to learn from her daughter-in-law that Goto had left for Syria just days after his child was born.
Yesterday, worshipers included the captives in their prayers at Tokyo’s largest mosque.
Source AP