"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.
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.
