The fates of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot were unknown Friday, a day after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap passed with no further word from the Islamic State group holding them captive.
Jordan has said it will only release an al-Qaida prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, from death row if it gets proof the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is alive and so far has received no such evidence from the hostage-takers.
At the same time, the government is under domestic pressure to win the release of al-Kaseasbeh, the first foreign pilot to be captured by Islamic State militants since a U.S.-led military coalition began carrying out air strikes against IS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria in September. Jordan is part of the coalition.
In the pilot’s home village of Ay in the southern Karak district, several dozen protesters called for his release and chanted against Jordan’s role in the alliance against Islamic State. “The sons of Jordan must not be sacrificed for America,” read a banner.
Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said that the Jordanian government faces only bad options in the hostage crisis. The pilot was captured in December, after his F-16 fighter plane went down over an IS-controlled area of Syria.
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Laub reported from Amman, Jordan.
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Associated Press writers Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan and Miki Toda, Kaori Hitomi and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
