Jordan has agreed to demands from ISIS that it release a female jihadist held since 2006, in a move that could free a Jordanian pilot captured in Syria last month and possibly a Japanese journalist who pleaded for his life in a video released by the terror group on Tuesday.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said in a statement the nation was prepared to free Sajida al-Rishawi, who was convicted of taking part in a deadly hotel bombing, if the Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is released unharmed. His comments were carried by Jordan's official Petra news agency. Although he made no mention of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, a hostage audio message released by Islamic State a day earlier tied Goto's fate to that of Al-Rishawi, as well.
Al-Rishawi was sentenced to death in Jordan for her involvement in a 2005 terrorist attack by Al Qaeda on hotels in Amman that killed 60 people. Jordan is reportedly in indirect talks with the militants through religious and tribal leaders in Iraq to secure the hostages' release. The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Jordan's parliament, Bassam Al-Manasseer, has been quoted as saying that Jordan and Japan would not negotiate directly with the Islamic State group and would not free al-Rishawi for the Japanese hostage only.
"Please save Kenji's life."
- Mother of Japanese fraalance journalist Kenji Goto
The mother of another Jordanian prisoner, Ziad al-Karboli, said her family was told the Islamic State group also wants his release as part of a swap, but it is unclear if that was related to a possible deal involving the Japanese hostage.
Al-Karboli, an aide to a former Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, was sentenced to death in 2008 for killing a Jordanian citizen.
The Islamic State broke with Al Qaeda's central leadership in 2013 and has clashed with its Syrian branch, but it reveres the global terror network's former Iraqi affiliate, which battled U.S. forces and claimed the 2005 Amman attack.
Earlier Wednesday, the mother of the Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, appealed publicly to Japan's premier to save her son. The mother, Junko Ishido, read to reporters her plea to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which she said she sent after both Abe and Japan's main government spokesman declined to meet with her.
"Please save Kenji's life," Ishido said, begging Abe to work with the Jordanian government until the very end to try to save Goto.
"Kenji has only a little time left," she said.
Meanwhile, the Jordanian government is under growing pressure at home to win the release of the pilot, with his father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, pleading with Jordan "to meet the demands" of the Islamic State group.
"All people must know, from the head of the regime to everybody else, that the safety of Mu'ath means the stability of Jordan, and the death of Mu'ath means chaos in Jordan," he told The Associated Press as about 200 of the pilot's relatives protested outside the prime minister's office in Amman, chanting anti-government slogans and urging that it meet the captors' demands.
Al-Kaseasbeh has repeatedly criticized the Jordanian government's handling of the crisis, saying more must be done to bring his son home.
"I contacted the Turkish authorities after I found that the Jordanian government is not serious in the negotiations," he told The Associated Press, speaking after the government raised the possibility of a swap.
"The government needs to work seriously, the way one would do to free a son, like the Japanese government does," the father said.
The pilot's brother, Jawad al-Kaseasbeh, said the family is still "waiting for any word from the Jordanian government."
Al-Kaseasbeh, 26, was seized after his Jordanian F-16 crashed in December near the Islamic State's de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot they have captured since a U.S.-led coalition that includes Jordan began an aerial campaign against the Islamic State in August.
The developments Wednesday came after Islamic State released a flurry of grim threats at the West, one of which included an apparent beheading of a captured Kurdish soldier. In that video, discovered by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on Tuesday, three Islamic State fighters stand behind the kneeling Kurdish fighter as one of the extremists launches into a diatribe against the U.S. and other Western nations.
“Know, oh Obama, that will reach America,” says one of the fighters, clad in black and wearing a balaclava, in a translation from Arabic provided by MEMRI. “Know also that we will cut off your head in the White House, and transform America into a Muslim Province.”
The extremist also issued warnings to European nations.
“And this is my message to France and to its sister, Belgium,” he said. “We advise you that we will come to you with car bombs and explosive charges, and will cut off your heads.”
The video fades to black as one Islamic State fighter brings a knife up to the unidentified Kurdish fighter’s throat.
In an audio message released Tuesday, Goto said Jordan held his life in its hands.
"Any more delays by the Jordanian government will mean [that] they are responsible for the death of their pilot, which then will be followed by mine [i.e. my death],” says a voice believed to be that of Kenji Goto, one of two Japanese hostages shown in a video released a week ago, along with a demand for $200 million from Japan. "I only have 24 hours left to live, and the pilot has even less. Please don't leave us to die."
Goto is a freelance journalist who was captured in Syria late last year, after reportedly traveling there to try to help Haruna Yukawa, a private soldier who had gone earlier to fight and was captured. Yukawa is believed to have been beheaded after Japan refused to pay the ransom.
Goto's audio message, which is just under 2 minutes long, was released in a file that includes a still photo of himself holding a picture believed to be of al-Kaseasbeh.
"I've been told [by ISIS] that this is my last message," the Japanese hostage says, adding that the only obstacle remaining for his release is the Jordanian government and that "time is now running very short!"
Yet another ISIS video was released online on Tuesday, according to MEMRI, bringing to three the total of audio and video messages from the terror group since the weekend.
Tuesday's video matched a message released over the weekend, though neither bore the logo of the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm. The video released over the weekend appeared to show Goto holding the body of his murdered countryman.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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