Tokyo, Feb 1
Shock and grief struck the people
in Japan Sunday as the media reported the execution of Japanese
freelance journalist Kenji Goto by the Sunni radical group Islamic State
(IS), which released a video purportedly showing his beheading.
"Kenji
has died, and my heart is broken," said Junko Ishido, the mother of
slain journalist. "I'm just speechless. It is my only hope that we can
carry on with Kenji's mission to save the children from war and
poverty," The Guardian quoted her as saying.
Newspapers in Japan issued special editions bringing news of Goto's death.
"Goto
was a hugely respected journalist for his extensive experience, a man
who covered children caught up in conflict, and told the stories of
ordinary people and human rights problems. For all who knew him, it's a
huge loss," the Japan Times quoted Tina Carr, director of the Rory Peck
Trust, as saying.
The London-based trust provides support to freelance journalists and their families.
Goto,
47, a veteran war correspondent, was captured in October after he
travelled to Syria to try to win the release of Haruna Yukawa, a
self-styled security consultant whom Goto had met in Syria last April.
Yukawa was reportedly beheaded last week.
"He was kind and he was
brave," Shoichi Yukawa, the father of Haruna said of Goto. "He tried to
save my son. It's utterly heartbreaking. People killing other people,
it's so deplorable. How can this be happening?"
A pony-tailed
man, who sought an end of human suffering through his work, would not
hesitate to go a step further in his endeavours.
Goto was
captured at least once before by militants in the Middle East, but had
convinced them to let him go by showing that he was a reporter.
"It's
very dangerous. So, even if anything should happen to me, I won't blame
the people of Syria. Whatever happens, I am responsible. But of course,
I'm going to come back alive," he said in a video message last October
before heading to Raqqa, the headquarters of IS.
In an interview to a Japanese news website last year, he said he wanted to help people.
"The places I visit to report face unbearable hardship, but even there people live their daily lives," he said.
"Those
people always have something to say, a message they want conveyed. If I
can help relay their message to the world, it might lead to a solution
of some sort. If that happens, perhaps I can say my job was a
'success'."
Goto had written books on the impact of AIDS on
Africa, and set up his own press agency, the Independent Press, in 1996,
according to BBC. The 2005 book he wrote about the suffering of
children in Sierra Leone was titled "We Want Peace, Not Diamonds."
In April 2012, Goto met Syrian refugees in a Turkish camp, saying he wanted to report on what civilians were going through.
The
most recent posts on his Twitter account were reports from the Syrian
town of Kobane, which is controlled by IS, in late October.
He dropped out of contact shortly after and, weeks later, his wife received an email demanding a ransom for his release.
About
two weeks ago, IS militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72
hours unless Japan paid $200m - the same sum Abe had pledged to
countries affected by the war against the Sunni radical group. While
Yukawa was beheaded, Japanese officials had been working with Jordan to
secure the release of Goto and the Jordanian pilot Muath Kasasbeh, also
captured by the IS.
An IS video released Tuesday said Goto had "only 24 hours left to live" and Kasasbeh "even less".
The
militants had threatened to kill the two hostages if Jordan did not
release a woman sentenced to death in Jordan for her involvement in a
terror attack on three hotels in Amman in 2005 that killed 60 people.
Since
Tuesday, the Japanese government had remained extremely tight-lipped
over developments regarding Goto, with Abe and senior officials in Tokyo
declining to comment on speculation over a possible prisoner swap.
However,
hoping against hope, Abe's top spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary,
Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government believed Goto was
still alive and was seeking cooperation from Jordan and other relevant
governments, religious and tribal leaders to secure his release.
But in a one-minute video clip, purportedly posted by the IS late Saturday, a man believed to be Goto was beheaded.
