Japan envoy hopeful about release of ISIL hostages

A Japanese envoy in Jordan expressed hope that both a Japanese hostage and a Jordanian pilot held by Islamic militants will return home "with a smile on their faces," as criticisms mounted Tuesday over the government's handling of the crisis.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama was determined, saying he believed there were "firm ties" between Japan and Jordan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assigned Nakayama, a lawmaker, to coordinate efforts in Amman to save two Japanese hostages of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. Japan is now accepting the likelihood that Yukawa was killed, based on a video published online on Saturday. 

"I hope we can all firmly work hard and join hands to cooperate, and for the two countries (Japan and Jordan) to cooperate, in order for us to see the day when the Jordanian pilot and our Japanese national Mr. Goto, can both safely return to their own countries with a smile on their faces," he told reporters late Monday night after another day of crisis talks in the Jordanian capital.

It was the first time a Japanese official mentioned Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, who has been held by ISIL fighters after crashing in December. It wasn't clear when the pilot's possible release had become part of the discussions.

The issue of a prisoner swap is sensitive, given Jordanian concern over the pilot, and Nakayama emerged from the Japanese Embassy on Tuesday with no new updates.

"There are other parties involved, so I don't want to comment on details of the negotiations," he said. in the past, Japan has denied having contact with ISIL. 

Goto, a freelance journalist, was seized in late October in Syria, apparently while trying to rescue another hostage Yukawa, who was captured by the militants last summer.

Over the weekend, an unverified video emerged online showing a still photo of Goto, 47, holding what appears to be a photo of the body of Yukawa. It included a recording of a voice claiming to be Goto, saying his captors wanted the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in Jordan for involvement in a suicide bombing that killed 60 people.

The message retracted a demand for payment of $200 million in ransom for the two Japanese, made in an earlier online message, and said Yukawa had been killed. It threatened to kill Goto unless al-Rishawi was released.

Japanese officials have indicated they are treating the video released over the weekend as authentic.

Securing the release of al-Rishawi would be a major propaganda coup for ISIL, which sees her as an "imprisioned sister," according to CNN, and would allow the group to reaffirm its links to al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Rishawi fled but was captured after her explosive belt failed to detonate in the attack in Jordan. She pleaded not guilty.

Jordan is one of the countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition which has been bombing ISIL targets in Syria since September. The U.S. ally has provided a logistics base for the U.S.-led air campaign and is a hub for intelligence-gathering operations against ISIL, a western diplomatic source said.

As parliamentary debate resumed Tuesday, lawmaker Seiji Maehara of the opposition Democratic Party questioned Abe on how the government has handled the hostages' cases since when Yukawa was seized in August.

He noted Abe's explicit mention of the Islamic State in an announcement of $200 million in humanitarian aid to the nations fighting the extremists — something also mentioned in the videos issued by the militants.

But Abe defended his performance.

"If we fear the risks so much that we succumb to the terrorists' threats, we won't be able to make any humanitarian contributions to countries surrounding the area of conflict," Abe said. 

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press