Operation Featherweight: Month 6, Week 4, Day 6.

With world leaders still swarming around Saudi Arabia I am somewhat hesitant to call events in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) into sharp focus. Plus my brother's been up and I've been to the pub. However on Saturday (24/1/15) ISIL rushed out a video confirming the fate of the two Japanese hostages following the expiry of the Friday (23/1/15) deadline.

Strictly speaking this wasn't actually a video. Instead it was a still photograph of Kenji Goto holding the decapitated head of Haruna Yukawa. The voice over explained that Yukawa had been killed because the Japanese government had not met ISIL's demand for USD100m to secure his release. The voice over went onto explain that Goto had been spared because ISIL now wished to trade him for Sajida al-Rishawi - the sister of Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi who said to be the senior lieutenant to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who founded ISIL when it was Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq. No deadline was given for this exchange.

As with the demand for USD100m while I doubt they would say no I don't think ISIL seriously expect their demand to be met. Instead in the first instance they want the international community to put pressure on the Jordanian government to explore the possibility of prisoner exchanges. That way when ISIL come to demand a much larger prisoner exchange for Moaz al-Kasaesbeh the Jordanian pilot who is said to be close to the Jordanian Royal Family members of the coalition that pushed for the release of al-Rishawi to save the life of Goto will not be able to object.

In the second instance with the failure to seize Kobane/Ayn al-Arab ISIL appear to have realised that they will not be winning this war. For example Tuesday's (20/1/15) video appears to have been shot in a basement in front of a greenscreen in order to avoid giving away the hostage takers location. In Saturday's video they couldn't even manage the greenscreen. As such ISIL seem to be bringing up the question of prisoners in an attempt to discuss what will happen to them should they be captured. The UK is sadly still seriously talking about allowing ISIL fighters to not only return to the UK but also to walk away from their crimes free and clear.

Therefore on this point I should explain that through their behaviour in Kurdish areas such as Kobane and Shingal/Sinjar ISIL have attempted to exterminate an entire ethnic/religious group. This most certainly constitutes a crime against humanity and one on such a scale that it has only been seen twice in the modern era - at Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995 and across continental Europe during the 12 year Nazi holocaust. I even exclude the Rwandan genocide of 1994 because that was more a frenzy of civilian killing civilian then the orchestrated actions of an organised group.

So as we approach the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and once more pledge "Never Again" it is clear that ISIL members must receive the most serious of punishment not only to act as a deterrent but also to make sure they can never re-offend. As such the only fate that can await ISIL prisoners is trial by military tribunal and if convicted either a whole life term of imprisonment or the death penalty. Under those circumstances it wouldn't be a great loss to humanity if they were all killed on the battlefield.

19:50 on 25/1/15 (UK date).