Jordan agrees to free suicide bomber in return for airman
Print Edition
JORDAN yesterday offered to free a female jihadist in exchange for a Jordanian pilot held by the Islamic State group, which is threatening to execute the airman and a Japanese journalist.
It came after the parents of the hostages made last-ditch pleas for their lives as a deadline set by IS for the release of the would-be suicide bomber approached.
“Jordan is ready to release the prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot is freed unharmed,” Jordanian state television quoted a government spokesman as saying.
“From the start, the position of Jordan was to ensure the safety of our son, the pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh,” it said.
It made no mention of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.
In a video released on Tuesday, IS threatened to kill Kassasbeh and Goto unless Rishawi was freed within 24 hours.
The Japanese government said it believed the deadline expired about 2pm GMT yesterday.
Tokyo has been urgently seeking Jordan’s help since an IS video released at the weekend said another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, had been beheaded.
It sent Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama to Amman to head an emergency response team.
Rishawi has been on death row since 2006 for her part in triple hotel bombings in Amman that killed 60 people. Kassasbeh was captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the jihadists over northern Syria.
Jordanian officials have noted that while the IS video threatened Kassasbeh’s life, it only mentioned freeing Goto in exchange for Rishawi.
Jordan is among a number of countries that have joined United States-led air raids against IS, which has seized large areas in Syria and neighboring Iraq.
The pilot’s father Safi Kassasbeh begged the Jordanian government to save his son “at any price,” while Goto’s mother urged Tokyo to “please save Kenji’s life.”
An angry Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier blasted the militants’ deadline.
“This was an utterly despicable act, and I am appalled,” Abe told reporters.
“The government, in this extremely serious situation, has been asking for the Jordanian government’s cooperation toward the early release of Mr Goto, and this policy remains unchanged,” he told ministers.
Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, was at Japan’s parliament yesterday in a failed bid to meet Abe. After being refused an appointment with the premier, she issued a plea for her son’s life through assembled media.
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Please continue your utmost efforts in negotiating with the Jordanian government until the last minute. There is not much time left,” Ishido said.
Her anguish was mirrored in Jordan where Kassasbeh’s father and several dozen members of the family’s Karak tribe held a demonstration outside government headquarters in Amman late on Tuesday.
They held his picture and a slogan reading: “We are all Maaz.”
“We have only one request, Maaz’s return at any price,” Safi Kassasbeh told local media.
After first setting a US$200 million ransom for the release of Yukawa and Goto, the IS group, which rules parts of Syria and Iraq with an extreme form of Islam, changed tack and demanded Jordan free Rishawi.
In the latest video, Goto, a war reporter, is seen holding a photograph of Kassasbeh, while a voiceover, purportedly spoken by the Japanese hostage, warns that Jordan is blocking his release.
But any suggestion of a swap will likely face resistance from America. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier this week that a prisoner exchange was “in the same category” as paying a ransom.
IS has previously beheaded two US reporters, a US aid worker and two British aid workers, and committed numerous atrocities including mass executions.
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