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The sister, right, and wife, left, of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who is held by the Islamic State group militants, cry as they ride a car during a protest in front of the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan on Jan. 28, 2015.(Photo: Raad Adayleh, AP)
After two days of threats and tense deadlines, there was no official word Friday on the state of negotiations — if any — over the fate of a Jordanian military pilot and Japanese journalist being held hostage by the Islamic State.
Sky News Arabia, however, reported on Twitter in Arabic that relatives of the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, said he was still alive and that negotiations for his release were continuing.
The report could not be immediately confirmed.
An audio message purportedly posted online by jihadis had warned that al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed if Sajida al-Rishawi, an al-Qaeda prisoner, was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time.
It was not clear from the recording what would happen to the second hostage, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto if the Iraqi woman was not freed.
The deadline passed without any public word from the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which has taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Jordanian military spokesman Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement Friday that government institutions "are working around the clock" on the pilot's case.
"We will inform you of any developments in due time," he added, urging Jordanians not to listen to rumors.
Jordan had offered to release al-Rishawi — on death row over her role in the bombing of an Amman hotel in 2005 that killed 60 people — but insisted first that it receive proof the pilot was still alive.
Japanese officials also had no progress to report. "There is nothing I can tell you," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. He reiterated Japan's "strong trust" in the Jordanians to help save the Japanese freelance journalist.
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Suga said the government had been in close contact with Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, who released a statement overnight pleading for her husband's life.
"I fear that this is the last chance for my husband, and we now have only a few hours left," Jogo said in a statement released through the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based organization for freelance journalists.
Goto's wife said she had avoided public comment earlier to try to protect her daughters, an infant and a 2-year-old, from media attention.
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Islamic State seeks legitimacy in prisoner swap
Late Thursday, Goto's wife said she had exchanged several e-mails with her husband's captors, and that in the past 20 hours she had gotten one that appeared to be their final demand.
She urged the Japanese and Jordanian governments to complete the exchange that would free both hostages. "I beg the Jordanian and Japanese governments to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she said.
Goto was shown in an Islamic State video last week holding a photo that purported to show the body of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa. The militant group initially sought a $200 million ransom for Goto's release, but later changed their demands to seek the release of al-Rishawi.
In the Jordanian capital, Amman, the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh said his family had "no clue" about where the negotiations stood. "We received no assurances from anyone that he is alive," he told The Associated Press. "We are waiting, just waiting."
The hostage drama has left Jordan with tough choices. Freeing al-Rishawi would conflict with the government's tough policy toward Islamic extremism. But King Abdullah II is also under strong pressure from the public and from the pilot's prominent Jordanian family to win his release.
Alal-Kaseasbeh, whose plane went down in Islamic State-held territory in December, is the first foreign military pilot to be captured since the U.S. and its allies began airstrikes against the militants last year.
Jordan's participation in the U.S.-led airstrikes is unpopular in the kingdom, and the pilot is seen by some as the victim of a war they feel the country shouldn't be involved in.
Al-Kaseasbeh's relatives have expressed such views and accused the government of bungling efforts to win his freedom.
"They abandoned Muath, the son of the army!" chanted protesters gathered at a meeting place in Amman for tribesmen from Karak, in southern Jordan.
Contributing: Associated Press
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