IRBIL, Iraq — The most recent deadline for Jordan to release an Islamist prisoner before the Islamic State group executed a captured Jordanian pilot passed at sundown Thursday with no indication that an agreement was near on a deal to swap the two.
Jordan insisted publicly that it needed proof that the pilot was still alive before it would transfer the woman, Sajida al-Rishawi. For its part, the Islamic State group demanded in a new Internet recording that al-Rishawi be transferred to an unspecified point on the Turkish border or the pilot, Muath al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed.
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The new recording, purportedly by Kenji Goto, a freelance Japanese journalist also held by the group, did not offer to swap al-Kaseasbeh for al-Rishawi. Instead, it reiterated the group’s original offer – to swap Goto for al-Rishawi.
“I am Kenji Goto. This is a voice message I’ve been told to send to you,” the new recording said. “If Sajida al-Rishawi is not ready for exchange for my life at the Turkish border by Thursday sunset 29th of January Mosul time, the Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh will be killed immediately.”
It was unknown whether Jordan and the Islamic State group were in contact with one another beyond their public statements. On Wednesday, Jordan said it had asked tribesmen with Islamic State contacts to try to mediate an exchange for al-Kaseasbeh, an offer the Islamic State so far has not made publicly.
On Thursday, multiple top Jordanian officials took to state television to reiterate the country’s willingness to exchange al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman in her 40s convicted and sentenced to death for her role in the 2005 bombings of three luxury hotels in Amman. But Goto’s reiteration that the exchange would be for him suggested that Jordan and the Islamic State were talking past one another on what deal was under consideration.
The proposal to swap Goto for al-Rishawi was first raised in an audio recording posted on Saturday, in which Goto said the Islamic State had killed another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, and was dropping its request for a $200 million ransom. Instead, the Islamic State offered to trade Goto for al-Rishawi. “It is simple. You give them Sajida and I will be released,” the recording said.
The recording made no mention of al-Kaseasbeh.
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