Jordan to ISIL: We free militant for captured pilot

Jordan says it is ready to release a female Takfiri militant in exchange for a Jordanian pilot held captive by the ISIL terrorists.

“Jordan is ready to release the prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot is freed unharmed,” a government spokesman was quoted by Jordan’s state television as saying on Wednesday.

The prisoner swap offer was made after the parents of the Jordanian airman and a Japanese journalist, whom ISIL has threatened to kill, made last-ditch pleas for their lives as a deadline set by the militants for the release of Rishawi approached.

The female militant is thought to be behind an attack on a hotel in Jordan in 2005 and is on the death row in Jordanian custody.

“From the start, the position of Jordan was to ensure the safety of our son, the pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh,” the Jordanian TV added without mentioning Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.

In a video released on Tuesday, ISIL threatened to murder Kassasbeh and Goto unless Rishawi is freed within 24 hours, with Japan saying that the deadline is believed to expire around 1400 GMT on Wednesday.

In other footage, which emerged on the internet on January 24, Goto holds the photo of a dead body allegedly belonging to security contractor Haruna Yukawa, who was apparently beheaded by ISIL. In the video, which was later removed from YouTube, Goto says ISIL wants him swapped for Rishawi.

Japan has called for Jordan’s help since then and has sent Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama to Amman to lead an emergency response team.

In the Tuesday video, Goto, a freelance journalist, holds a photograph of Kassasbeh, while a voiceover, supposedly spoken by him, says Amman is blocking his release.

The ISIL militants captured Kassasbeh on December 24, 2014, after his F-16 jet crashed in northern Syria.

Jordanian officials say while the ISIL video has threatened Kassasbeh’s life, it made no mention of freeing him along with Goto in exchange for Rishawi.

ISIL has decapitated five Western hostages since August 2014.

The Takfiri terrorists have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control in Iraq and Syria. They have terrorized and killed people of all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.

MR/HSN/SS

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