All-but-Forgotten Prisoner in Jordan Is Suddenly at Center of Swap Demand by ISIS

AMMAN, Jordan — During the nine years that Sajida al-Rishawi, 46, has been sitting in self-imposed solitary confinement in her cell at the Juweidah Women’s Prison here in Jordan, refusing to mix with other prisoners, she has had hardly any visitors, other than her court-appointed lawyer.

In all that time, Al Qaeda in Iraq, which had dispatched her to Jordan to kill, has only rarely mentioned her, especially after that group morphed into the Islamic State. She was that ultimate embarrassment, the suicide bomber who was unable to complete her mission, then ran away.

Now the militants are suddenly demanding the release of Ms. Rishawi, who spent her honeymoon helping stage an attack on a Jordanian wedding, where 27 guests were killed by her newlywed husband after he succeeded in detonating his explosive vest. The militants said they would free a Japanese hostage in exchange.

On Wednesday, Jordanian officials said they would let Ms. Rishawi go. But they put their own twist on the deal, saying they would do so only if the militants freed a Jordanian Air Force pilot shot down over Syria last month, becoming the first member of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State to be captured.

Less than a week ago, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had valued two Japanese hostages at $100 million each. But after killing one of them on Saturday, the group changed its ultimatum: dropping the ransom demand and insisting instead on the trade for Ms. Rishawi. A statement, issued as an audio message from the Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, a journalist, added a warning that the pilot, First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, would be killed if Ms. Rishawi was not released within 24 hours.

Mr. Hiltermann, however, said he would have thought ISIS would have picked more important militants held by Jordan. About 60 other alleged Islamic State or Qaeda prisoners are held by Jordan, including Ziad al-Karbouli, who was Mr. Zarqawi’s top lieutenant at the time of the Jordanian attack and is believed to have helped plan the bombings. Like Ms. Rishawi, Mr. Karbouli has also been sentenced to death.

For her part, Ms. Maieah said Ms. Rishawi was “just a malicious, sneaky lowlife,” adding that “the only reason she was there is a man couldn’t have gotten into a wedding alone.”

Her theory is that the militants are “just doing this to put Jordan in an awkward situation with Japan.” Japan is a major aid donor to Jordan and has pledged $150 million in aid to help Jordan manage more than 600,000 refugees from Syria whose presence has put a strain on Jordan’s resources and raised the specter of unrest.

The demand for Ms. Rishawi’s release has also put Jordan in an awkward situation with its own public, which has been demanding that something be done for Lieutenant Kasasbeh — and complaining that the Japanese hostage should not get precedence.

With a growing chorus of Jordanians, led by Lieutenant Kasasbeh’s father, complaining that the American-led fight against ISIS should not be Jordan’s war, some analysts worry that Jordan’s continued participation in the coalition could even be put into question. In that case, Ms. Rishawi’s extremist supporters may finally have found a use for her — whether or not she gets released.

The New York Times