Looking for any chance to execute non-Muslims, Islamic State makes new demands of Japan for release of one hostage

The Islamic State has apparently killed one of the two Japanese men that it held hostage, releasing an image of what appears to be the decapitated body of one of the two men, and saying that it had killed one of its hostages after Japan failed to pay $200 million to the terrorist group by a January 23 deadline.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The group also changed their demands for the release of the second captive, instead of money they have demanded that Jordan release Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber who attempted to attack a hotel in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005.

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Al-Rishawi is the sister of one of the commanders of the Islamic State, and also was a former commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as was the current leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This may mean the demand is simply a propaganda tool, one expert on the Middle East crisis told NBC News.

"Those family and organizational links may indeed be significant in the call to free al-Rishawi," said Karima Bennoune, a professor of international law at the University of California, Davis.

"However, it is also likely that ISIS has sought to switch its ransom demands for propaganda purposes, to position itself-wrongly-as a defender of Muslim women."

Bennoune is also the author of "Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism."

On January 24, the Islamic State released a video wherein they claimed to have executed one of the Japanese journalists, Haruna Yukawa. Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, expressed outrage at the picture of the apparent headless corpse, calling it "an outrageous and unforgivable act of violence," and President Obama expressed his condolences to the family of these victims.

It is also likely that the Islamic State wants to make demands that Japan can not meet within deadlines provided, thus utilizing hostages as a tool to show they are serious about fighting all who oppose them.

Japan's constitution does not allow them to intervene militarily on foreign soil, but Japan did contribute $200 million to the coalition that was fighting against the Islamic State.

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Abe has not officially revealed whether or not Japan was currently negotiating for al-Rishawi's release, but he did say that things were "moving as we speak, so I would like to refrain from commenting on this," during an interview with NHK in Japan.

"From the standpoint of placing priority on ensuring the safety of the individual, we are working on it as we continue to work closely with Jordan," he added.

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