Japan says hostage negotiations ‘deadlocked’: report

Japan’s deputy foreign minister says negotiations with the Islamic State group threatening to execute a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese journalist have become “deadlocked”. Yasuhide Nakayama, who is leading Tokyo’s emergency response team in Amman, told reporters in the Jordanian capital late Friday that there had been no progress in trying to secure the release of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh.

It has become deadlocked. Staying vigilant, we will continue analysing and examining information as the government is making concerted efforts together.

Japan’s deputy foreign minister Yasuhide Nakayama

Japan, which plays no military part in the fight against IS, was thrust onto the front line last week when a video appeared in which Goto and Haruna Yukawa, a self-described contractor, were seen kneeling in the desert. A masked, knife-wielding militant said Tokyo had 72 hours to pay a $200 million ransom to spare them. When the deadline expired, Yukawa was beheaded, and a voice identifying itself as Goto demanded Iraqi female jihadist Sajida al-Rishawi in exchange for the two men’s release.

Middle East kenji goto