- Shosei Koda
Shosei Koda (Japanese: 香田証生, "Kōda Shōsei";
November 29 ,1979 –November 3 ,2004 ) was aJapan ese citizen who was kidnapped and later beheaded inIraq onNovember 3 ,2004 while touring the country.His parents were members of the
United Church of Christ . [" [http://ncc-j.org/english/jcan/2004%20Fall-Winter.pdf Japan Christian Activity News Fall/Winter 2004] ]The captors demanded that the Japanese government withdraw its forces from Iraq; the Japanese government refused.
He stated that he entered Iraq on
October 19 ,2004 because that "he wanted to know what is happening there"," according toKyodo News .In his execution video, his three captors stand while Koda sits on the American flag. Koda has his hands tied behind his back and is
blindfold ed while a captor, behind him, reads a speech which lasts for two minutes and ten seconds. After that, the captors place him on the ground and hold him down as they begin to behead him.Throughout the beheading, the captors chant, "Allāhu Akbar," which is a common Arabic religious expression meaning "God is Great".
The video ends with shots of Koda's blood-covered, severed head on top of his body and a few seconds of shots with the banner of
Al-Qaeda in Iraq . His headless body was placed on top of a blood-soaked American flag.ee also
*
Daniel Pearl
*Eugene Armstrong
*Fabrizio Quattrocchi
*Jack Hensley
*Kenneth Bigley
*Kim Sun-il
*Nick Berg
*Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr. References
External links
*ja icon Japanese Wikipedia entry on the murder case
* [http://www.aliennationreport.com/SHOSEIKODA.html Video of Shosei Koda beheading]
* [http://shosei-koda.last-memories.com/index.php?co=lifestory Life of Shosei Koda]
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