Japanese journalist Kenji Goto’s apt ‘hated is not human’ tweet goes viral following his execution at Isis hands
A four year-old tweet from Japanese journalist Kenji Goto has gone viral after its message of peace connected with those mourning his execution at Isis hands over the weekend.
Despite ongoing negotiations to secure his release between Japan and the Jordanian government, a video portarying Goto’s brutal execution was released earlier this week.
In the aftermath of the murder, one of Goto’s tweets from 2010 documenting his connection to the Syrian and Iraqi people, was retweeted over 31,250 times in the space of days.
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。
— 後藤健二 (@kenjigotoip) September 7, 2010
Translated, the tweet said: “Closing my eyes and holding still. It's the end if I get mad or scream. It's close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That's what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters.”
Goto’s wife Rinka, who currently grieves with her two children, said she is “extremely proud” of her husband who died reporting the “plight of people in conflict areas”.