Swapping with al-Qaeda prisoner: Jordan govt seeks proof if its pilot is alive

Updated: Thursday, January 29, 2015, 23:46 [IST]

Amman, Jan 29: The government of Jordan is seeking evidence that the pilot captured by the Islamic State (IS) is still alive as efforts continued to negotiate an exchange between him and an al-Qaeda prisoner.

Family of Lt Moaz al-Kasasbeh said they were informed by sources that he was alive son after the new deadline put by the IS for the swap had lapsed.

jordan-pilot-al-qaeda-prisoner — Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, left, used during a demonstration calling for his release from the Islamic State group and a still image from video, right, of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in Jordan for her involvement in a 2005 terrorist attack on a hotel that killed 60 people. PTI

The IS offered to free a Japanese hostage in return while sparing the Jordanian pilot. Meanwhile, wife of surviving Japanese hostage Kenji Goto told the BBC that the IS was willing to free her husband in return for the release of a female bomber of the al-Qaeda, Sajida al-Rishwai. She was involved in deadly Amman hotel bombings a decade ago.

Jordan is a member of the US-led coalition which has been carrying out air attacks against the IS in Iraq and Syria.

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