KENJI GOTO (OCTOBER 23, 1967 TO JANUARY 30, 2015)

            Let us not forget Kenji Goto, a Japanese journalist who lost his life when he was beheaded by his captors from the Islamic State on January 30, 2015. We will post information about him from Wikipedia.

 

Kenji Goto People in Japan are calling Goto’s murder their 9/11. Credit Photograph by Ahmed Muhammed Ali / Anadolu Agency / Getty [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/isis-murdered-kenji-goto]
Native name	後藤 健二
Born	23 October 1967 Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
Died	30 January 2015 (aged 47) Near Raqqa, Syria
Cause of death	Decapitation
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Hosei University
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1991–2015
Religion	Christianity
Denomination	United Church of Christ in Japan
Spouse(s)	Rinko Jogo
Children	3
Parent(s)	Junko Ishido (mother)

Kenji Goto (後藤 健二 Gotō Kenji^?, 23 October 1967 – 30 January 2015) was a Japanese freelance video journalist covering wars and conflicts, refugees, poverty, AIDS, and child education around the world. In October 2014, he was captured and held hostage by Islamic State (ISIL) militants after entering Syria in the hopes of rescuing Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa. On 30 January 2015, he was beheaded by his captors following the breakdown of negotiations for his release.

Biography

Goto was born on 23 October 1967 in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from Hosei University in Tokyo in 1991, he worked for a media production company before establishing Independent Press in 1996. He also worked with U.N. organizations including UNICEF and the U.N. Refugee Agency.

Reporting from war-torn countries around the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East, he focused on the life and humanity of the ordinary citizens in difficult times. His works include books and DVDs on blood diamonds and child soldiers in Sierra Leone, the Rwandan conflict and its survivors, a teenage mother in an Estonian "AIDS village", and girls and education in Afghanistan. In 2006, he won the Sankei Children's Book Award for his 2005 book titled Daiyamondo yori Heiwa ga Hoshii (I Want Peace Rather Than a Diamond). His video reports appeared on Japanese national networks including NHK and TV Asahi.

Goto converted to Christianity in 1997, and was a member of a United Church of Christ in Japan parish in Den-en-chōfu, Tokyo.

In October 2014, Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, had a baby, the couple's second child. He also had an older daughter from a previous marriage.

  

Kenji Goto about to be beheaded.

Kidnapping and beheading

Despite being warned three times by the Japanese government in September and October 2014, both by telephone and in person, not to return to Syria, Goto entered Syria on 24 October 2014 via Turkey to rescue a Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, who had been captured by Islamic State (ISIL) militants in August. He was reportedly captured by ISIL members the following day. He appeared in a video released by ISIL militants on 20 January 2015, in which they demanded $200 million from the government of Japan for the lives of Goto and Yukawa. His mother, Junko Ishido (石堂 順子 Ishidō Junko), made a plea to ISIL to spare her son at a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on 23 January.

On 24 January, ISIL released a picture of Goto holding a photo of decapitated Haruna Yukawa. In an audiotape accompanying the picture, Goto read a message in English blaming the Japanese government for the death of his "cellmate" and claiming that ISIL would spare Goto's life and exchange him for Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, an attempted suicide bomber who participated in the 2005 Amman bombings. On 29 January, Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, released a plea to his captors through the Rory Peck Trust, a UK-based organization that supports freelance journalists.

On 31 January 2015, ISIL released a video that purportedly showed Goto being beheaded. It was later revealed that he had been moved to the town of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border with Syria on 29 January in preparation for a possible exchange with al-Rishawi, but when it became apparent that the exchange would not be taking place, he was taken back to a location near the city of Raqqa in Syria, and killed on the morning of 30 January, local time.

Media coverage

Following the release of the beheading video by ISIL on 31 January, many major Japanese television outlets, including NHK, Nippon Television, TBS, Fuji Television, and TV Asahi, suspended their normal programming schedules to provide breaking news coverage on this event. Some foreign media outlets noted a rather skeptical and critical response by the Japanese public regarding the two hostages.

Remembrance

After his death, a tweet posted to Twitter in 2010 went viral. As of 8 February 2015, it had been re-tweeted more than 40,000 times. In it, Goto said, "Close your eyes. Bear it. If we become angry and yell, we are doomed. This is like prayer. Hate is not what humans should do. Judgement lies with God. That is what I learned from my Arab brothers." (目を閉じて、じっと我慢。怒ったら、怒鳴ったら、終わり。それは祈りに近い。憎むは人の業にあらず、裁きは神の領域。－そう教えてくれたのはアラブの兄弟たちだった。^?)

Bibliography

• Daiyamondo yori Heiwa ga Hoshii: Kodomo Heishi Muria no Kokuhaku (ダイヤモンドより平和がほしい : 子ども兵士・ムリアの告白^?, English translation: We Want Peace Not Diamonds: A Confession by Child Soldier Muria) (July 2005, Choubunsha Publishing), ISBN 9784811380018
• Eizu no Mura ni Umarete: Inochi o Tsunagu 16-sai no Haha Natasha (エイズの村に生まれて : 命をつなぐ16歳の母・ナターシャ^?, English translation: Born in an AIDS Village: 16-year-old Mother Natasha Trying to Stay Alive) (December 2007, Choubunsha Publishing), ISBN 9784811384740
• Ruwanda no Inori: Naisen o Ikinobita Kazoku no Monogatari (ルワンダの祈り : 内戦を生きのびた家族の物語^?, English translation: Prayers of Rwanda: The Story of a Family Surviving Civil War) (December 2008, Choubunsha Publishing), ISBN 9784811384979
• Moshimo Gakkō ni Iketara: Afuganisutan no Shōjo Mariamu no Monogatari (もしも学校に行けたら : アフガニスタンの少女・マリアムの物語^?, English translation: If I Could Go to School: The Story of Afghanistan Girl Mariam) (December 2009, Choubunsha Publishing), ISBN 9784811386119