Jordan insists pilot be freed ahead of exchange for Iraqi militant

Officials in Jordan have said they received no assurance that a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State insurgents was safe and that a proposed prisoner swap would go ahead only if he was freed.

The fate of airforce pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh was thought to be tied to that of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, a veteran war reporter who is also being held by the insurgent group.

A video released on Tuesday purporting to show the Japanese national saying he had 24 hours to live unless Jordan released Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman on death row in Jordan for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in the capital, Amman.

Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said Jordan was ready to release Rishawi, but made clear that she was still being held until the pilot was freed.

“Her release is tied to freeing our pilot,” Mr Momani said. He made no mention of the Japanese reporter Mr Goto.

Bombing mission

Lieut Kasaesbeh was captured after his jet crashed in northeastern Syria in December during a bombing mission against IS.

Mr Momani said Jordan’s priority was to secure the release of the pilot, who hails from an important Jordanian tribe that forms the backbone of support for the Hashemite monarchy. Several hundred people, including Lieut Kasaesbeh’s relatives, gathered in front of the office of Jordan’s prime minister on Tuesday, urging authorities to meet the IS demands.

A spokesman at Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s office said he had no immediate comment on the Jordanian statement.

The hostage-taking presents Mr Abe with his biggest diplomatic crisis since he took power in 2012, and there has been a flurry of unconfirmed reports in Japanese media that a swap deal involving Mr Goto might be in the works.

Mr Goto’s mother, speaking shortly after the presumed deadline had passed late yesterday, said: “A time limit has been set, and that has made me nervous,” Junko Ishido said.

Mr Goto went to Syria in late October. According to friends and colleagues, he was attempting to secure the release of Haruna Yukawa, his friend and fellow Japanese citizen who was captured in August. – (Reuters)