TOKYO — The fates of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot were unknown Friday, a day after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap passed with no further word from the Islamic State group holding them captive.

Jordan has said it will only release an al-Qaida prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, from death row if it gets proof the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is alive and so far has received no such evidence from the hostage-takers.

At the same time, the government is under domestic pressure to win the release of al-Kaseasbeh, the first foreign pilot to be captured by Islamic State militants since a U.S.-led military coalition began carrying out air strikes against IS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria in September. Jordan is part of the coalition.

Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said that the Jordanian government faces only bad options in the hostage crisis. The pilot was captured in December, after his F-16 fighter plane went down over an IS-controlled area of Syria.

“Jordan does not have a history of negotiating with terrorists,” Muasher said. “At the same time, I think it is clear that all other alternatives are worse than releasing the pilot and ending in that scenario.”

“I think the country is united today in calling for the release of the pilot and that obviously is the priority of the Jordanian government,” he said.

The veteran diplomat said he does not expect King Abdullah II to second-guess Jordan’s role in the U.S.-led coalition because of increasingly vocal protests against such participation following the capture of the pilot.

“The king has made it clear that this is a war of values, not just a military war against ISIS (Islamic State) and that as such, Jordan needs to be involved,” Muasher said. “In fact, Jordan needs to be at the forefront of fighting ISIS.”

Al-Rishawi, 44, faces death by hanging for her role in triple 2005 hotel bombings in the Jordanian capital Amman that killed 60 people, the worst terror attack in Jordan. Her suicide belt did not go off and she fled the scene, but was quickly arrested.

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