Horror in Japan as video purports to show hostage beheaded

(Agencies) Updated: 2015-02-01 16:53

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga touches his head during a news conference at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official residence in Tokyo February 1, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

In a Sunday service at the church Goto sometimes attended, worshippers prayed and commemorated his life.

"I feel as sad as I did when my own son passed away," said Atsuko Miyakawa, an 89-year-old housewife. "I cried all day long yesterday."

In Jordan late Saturday night, relatives and supporters of the pilot held a candlelit vigil inside a family home in Karak, al-Kaseasbeh's hometown in southern Jordan.

We "decided to hold this protest to remind the Jordanian government of the issue of the imprisoned pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh," said the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh, holding picture of Muath with a caption: "We are all Muath."

Al-Kaseasbeh's uncle, Yassin Rawashda, said the family just wants to be kept informed.

"We want to know how the negotiations are going ... in a positive direction or not. And we want the family to be (involved) in the course of negotiations," he said.

Japan's envoy to Amman for the hostage crisis refused comment on details of what went wrong and said he was waiting for further orders from Tokyo.

In a purported online message earlier this week, the militants threatened to kill the pilot if the al-Qaida prisoner, 44-year-old Sajijda al-Rishawi, wasn't released by sunset on Thursday. That deadline passed, leaving the families of the pilot and the journalist waiting in agony.

Jordan and Japan had reportedly conducted indirect negotiations with the militants through Iraqi tribal leaders, but late on Friday Japan's deputy foreign minister reported a deadlock in those efforts.

The hostage drama began last week when the militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72 hours unless Japan paid $200 million.

Later, the militants' demand shifted to seeking the release of al-Rishawi, who is facing death by hanging in Jordan for her role in triple hotel bombings in Amman in 2005. Sixty people were killed in those attacks, the worst terror attack in Jordan's history.

Al-Rishawi has close family ties to the Iraq branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group.