Japanese Christian journalist captured by jihadists went to find friend in Syria

oge okonkwo

January 22, 2015 4:56 PM

ISIS has demanded a $200 million ransom for Goto and Yukawa within 72 hours of issuing the threat

Latest reports have revealed that Japanese Christian journalist, Kenji Goto Jogo, who was captured by Islamic State militants had returned to Syria to help find his friend, Haruna Yukawa, who was taken earlier by the militants.

ISIS has demanded a $200 million ransom for Goto and Yukawa within 72 hours of issuing the threat.

Yukawa was said to have been captured by ISIS in August 2014, outside the Syrian city of Aleppo while Goto who went to Syria in October to find his friend, went missing afterwards.

Yukawa first met Goto in Syria in April and asked him to take him to Iraq. He wanted to know how to operate in a conflict zone and they went together in June.

Yukawa returned to Syria in July on his own.

Goto, who converted to Christianity in 1997, spoke of his faith in the context of his job.

"I have seen horrible places and have risked my life, but I know that somehow God will always save me," he said in May. But he told the same publication that he never risked anything dangerous, citing a passage in the Bible, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

oge okonkwo