Radical scholar provided Japan with channel to IS at hostage crisis peak
Japan's government opened a communication channel with Islamic State in the decisive stages of its recent hostage crisis but was unwilling to use it to start negotiations, according to a Tokyo-based Islamic scholar who briefly became an intermediary.
Hassan Ko Nakata, 54, who police suspected was a recruiter for Islamic State, was asked by the foreign ministry to pass on a message to the group at the peak of the crisis last month, according to Nakata, associates and records reviewed by Reuters.
The request, which has not been previously revealed, shows Tokyo appeared ready at one point to talk to Islamic State to free two Japanese men who had been captured in Syria for ransom, despite the government's public vow not to give in to terrorism.
