Asia News Report: Tokyo mourns Kenji Goto Jogo, the journalist killed by the Islamic State. New push for rearmament
The Christian journalist's wife "devastated" by her husband's death but is proud of his work as a journalist". The Japanese prime minister: "We need military means to counter this threat." The population holds government to blame. Jordan waits amid fear for fate of other hostage, Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) - The murder of the Japanese reporter kidnapped by the Islamic State has "devastated" his wife, who now feels a "immense pain. While feeling a great personal loss, I remain extremely proud of my husband, who reported the plight of people in conflict areas like Iraq, Somalia and Syria", writes the wife of Kenji Goto Jogo, the Christian journalist beheaded by Islamic terrorists, after confirmation of the authenticity of the video that proves the man's death.
Kenji loved his job, writes his wife identified only by the name of Rinko, " It was his passion to highlight the effects on ordinary people, especially through the eyes of children, and to inform the rest of us of the tragedies of war. As you can imagine, this is an extremely difficult time for our family. I would ask that the media please respect our privacy and allow us time to come to terms with our loss".
The death of the journalist shook the whole Japan, which, one day after the tragedy, is divided on the next steps to take. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that what happened "proves once more that our Constitution is obsolete. We must have appropriate tools to respond to threats against our citizens with weapons." The reference is to Art. 9 of the Constitution, already amended by his government, which required the country to pursue a military program for self-defense purposes only.
On the contrary, some of the population believes that the death of the journalist is to be attributed to government ineptitude. Immediately after the publication of the video with the decapitation of the second hostage, a group of people went spontaneously to Abe's residence with signs that read "All because of you" and "I'm not Shinzo Abe."
Controversy also continues to rage in Jordan, home of the other hostage in the hands of the Islamic State. Air force Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh has been held hostage since Christmas 2014, when his jet crashed in the territory controlled by terrorists. The IS wants the liberation of the Iraqi terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi, and the government in Amman has sent mixed signals: on the one hand says it is ready to release her, on the other it argues that "it will not" bargain with the fundamentalists.
Comments