CAMDEN — AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan today demanded proof from Islamic State militants that a Jordanian pilot they are holding is still alive, despite purported threats by the group to kill the airman at sunset unless an al-Qaida prisoner is freed from death row in Jordan.
The militants' deadline passed without word on the fate of the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, and a fellow hostage, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Goto's wife Rinko, who had kept silent up to now, made a desperate plea for her husband's life today and revealed that she has exchanged emails with his captors.
"In the past 20 hours the kidnappers have sent me what appears to be their latest and final demand," she said in a statement. She said that if the al-Qaida prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, was not released by sunset, "the Jordanian pilot will be executed immediately."
"I beg the Jordanian and Japanese government to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she wrote.
Jordan has offered, in principle, to swap al-Rishawi for the pilot, but has made no mention of Goto.
This afternoon, Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani suggested any possible swap was on hold and said al-Rishawi was still in Jordan.
"We want to see a proof of life of the Jordanian pilot and then we can talk about the exchange between Sajida al-Rishawi and the Jordanian pilot," he said.
Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally in the region, faces difficult choices in the hostage crisis. Any swap with the Islamic State group would run counter to its tough approach toward Islamic extremists, but it also faces domestic pressure to bring the pilot home.
The purported threat to kill the pilot came in an audio message posted online late Wednesday. The message was read in English by a voice the Japanese government said was likely that of Goto. It warned that the pilot would be executed unless al-Rishawi is delivered to the Turkish border at sunset, Iraq time. It was not clear what Goto's fate would be if the woman is not released.
Al-Rishawi has close family ties to the al-Qaida branch in Iraq, a forerunner of the Islamic State group, and was involved in deadly Amman hotel bombings by al-Qaida a decade ago. Her explosives belt failed to detonate. She was arrested shortly after fleeing the scene and was sentenced to death by hanging.
The hostage drama began last week with the release of a video by the Islamic State group showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
They were kneeling in orange jumpsuits between a masked man who threatened to kill them within 72 hours unless Japan paid a $200 million ransom. That demand has since shifted to one for the release of al-Rishawi.
The militants have reportedly killed Yukawa, 42, although that has not been confirmed.