Speaking for the first time since the outbreak of the hostage crisis last week, the wife of Kenji Goto, the Japanese journalist now being held by the Islamic State group, released an audio statement Thursday begging the Jordanian and Japanese governments to save her husband.

"My husband and I have two very young daughters. Our baby girl was only three weeks old when Kenji left," a woman, who identified herself as Goto's wife, Rinko, said in the statement reportedly made to BBC News Thursday.

"I want them both to grow up knowing their father. My husband is a good and honest man who went to Syria to show the plight of those who suffer," she said.