"Government institutions are working around the clock on the case of pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh," Jordanian military spokesman Mamouh al-Ameri said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "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, the spokesman added.
"There is nothing I can tell you," Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters, repeating his government`s "strong trust" in the Jordanian government`s possible assistance in saving freelance journalist Kenji Goto. The Jordanian government has made no mention of Mr. Goto in a proposed prisoner swap, exchanging the Jordanian pilot for an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist.
An internet audio appeal posted by IS-affiliated jihadists stated that Lieutenant al-Kaseasbeh would be executed if Sajida al-Rishawi, an al-Qaida terrorist being held in Jordan since 2005 for a suicide terror attack operation in Amman was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday. AP could not verify the authenticity of the recording.
Late on Thursday, Goto`s wife had revealed that she had been communicating with jihadis believed to be her husband`s captors, noting that she had received a final demand on Thursday. "I beg the Jordanian and Japanese governments to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she noted.
Al-Kaseasbeh`s family says it has received no assurances that the pilot is still alive. Al-Kaseasbeh was captured in December after his F-16 crashed in IS-controlled territory in Syria. Last week, the captors of the two Japanese hostages are reported to have killed one of them, 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, although this has yet to be confirmed.
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