A video released online on Tuesday (January 20), purporting to show two Japanese captives being held by the Islamic State, gives clues about the type of technology the militant group is using and raises suspicions that the video is highly manipulated, according to a group that analyzes militant violence.
The clip showed a figure wearing black clothing and holding a knife, standing along with two kneeling men wearing orange clothes. The man, with his face covered, said the Japanese public had 72 hours to pressure their government to stop its “foolish” support for the U.S.-led coalition waging a military campaign against Islamic State. The militant, who spoke with a British accent, appeared to have the same voice as a jihadist shown threatening captives in previous Islamic State videos.
Veryan Khan is editorial director of TRAC, the Florida-based Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, that serves as a digital intelligence repository, providing original and in-depth analysis and archiving of print, video and social media involving extremists. She refers to the man with the covered face as ‘Jihad John.’
Khan said though the video appears to be shot in the desert, the lighting and shadows make her group sceptical of that. And while she did not say definitively that this video was shot on a green screen, a background screen used for video effects, she said many other videos released by the Islamic State have been.
“The hostages on either side of Jihad John are noticeably bothered by the light. Their eyes are blinking erratically and they seem really uncomfortable with the amount of light that’s being shown on them, which doesn’t seem like a natural light if you would be filming in the middle of the desert,” Khan said.
Khan added her group believes the wind in this video is blowing inconsistently. They point out there is no visible dust and they believe the shadows are inconsistent and appear to come from two separate light sources.
“The convergence of the different light sources and the way the shadows look raises a number of questions. For example was Jihad John even present in the original shooting of the video? Were the hostages shot at separate times, in separate locations?”
Khan said her group has determined the Islamic State is using a high tech Avid editing machine that allows them to produce high definition videos. Based on prior videos, she said her group believes a team is involved in production that likely includes a cinematographer, a director and several editors.
“They use news clips that are in English. They have no Japanese subtitles. In the past when they’ve had French speaking or German speaking, they’ve always gravitated towards the English. Their editors have to be native English speakers.”
In Tokyo, Japan’s foreign ministry said it was checking the video to see whether the footage was genuine and said that, if it was, “such a threat by taking hostages is unacceptable and we are extremely resentful.”
Reuters
