Sunset deadline passes for ISIL-held Jordanian pilot

Group threatening to kill pilot, Japanese journalist if prisoner not released but Amman is demanding proof of life.

 

Jordan said it was still holding an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber as a deadline passed for her release set by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) who threatened to kill a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed over by sunset.
An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist also captured by ISIL said the pilot would be killed unless Jordan freed Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in Amman.
Before the deadline passed at sunset on Thursday, the wife of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto released a written plea to the Jordanian government and ISIL to free her husband, as well as the Jordanian pilot.
"My husband and I have two very young daughters. Our baby girl was only three weeks old when Kenji left. I hope our oldest daughter, who is just two, will get to see her father again. I want them both to grow up knowing their father," Rinko Goto wrote.
Earlier, a spokesman of Jordan's government demanded proof of life for their pilot, Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, before moving ahead with any possible swap to bring about his release.
 "We want to see a proof of life of the Jordanian pilot and then we can talk about the exchange," Mohammed al-Momani said.

High stakes
It was not clear from the audio message said to be from Goto, and reported by monitoring group SITE Intelligence, if either Goto or Kasasbeh would be freed.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament: "We are aware of the new message ... [and] are verifying [its authenticity]."
Japan plays no military part in the fight against ISIL.
The apparent communication breaks an anxious silence from the group since their previous 24-hour deadline for Rishawi expired, around 14:00 GMT Wednesday.

Amman had offered to free the Iraqi woman, who was convicted for her part in the 2005 triple-hotel bombings in the Jordanian capital that killed 60 people, if ISIL released their airman.
"Jordan is ready to release the prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot is freed unharmed," state television quoted a government spokesman as saying on Wednesday.
"From the start, the position of Jordan was to ensure the safety of our son, the pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh," it added. The government spokesman made no mention of Japanese hostage Goto.
Wednesday passed in a maelstrom of conflicting reports on the fate of the three key players, complicated by linguistic and cultural misunderstandings, and by the high stakes on all sides.


'Save my son'
The atmosphere was tense in Jordan, where the country's involvement in the US-led air raids against ISIL positions is contentious.
"It has caused real difficulties in this country because what was a supportive atmosphere towards the allies against ISIL is now turning against the government," Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Amman, said.
"ISIL are standing to make possibly more capital in the propaganda stakes out of all of this, realising now that hostages it has have more value alive than dead."
The downing on December 24 of Kasasbeh's F-16 fighter jet over northern Syria and his subsequent capture and humiliation by ISIL exacerbated the situation.
This week the pilot's father begged the government to save his son "at any price".