‘Sunset’ Deadline Looms for ISIS Prisoner Swap
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — As the shadows grow longer in the Middle East, the deadline for a prisoner swap that could save the life of a Japanese journalist in the hands of the terror group ISIS is fast approaching Thursday.
In an audio message uploaded online late Wednesday, allegedly made by captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, Goto says that if al Qaeda convict Sajida al-Rishawi “is not ready for exchange for my life at the Turkish border by Thursday sunset” then another hostage, Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, “will be killed immediately.” The recording refers to sunset in Mosul, Iraq, meaning mid-morning east coast time.
Earlier Wednesday Jordan’s government had said it would go through with a prisoner swap with the terror group ISIS in order to get its captured pilot back, but Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said then that the government has not received proof that al-Kaseasbeh is still alive. Goto’s message did not say the Jordanian pilot would be freed in the newly-proposed arrangement. Al-Kaseasbeh was captured by ISIS last December after his aircraft was shot down.
Al-Rishawi, the Iraqi woman ISIS is bent on freeing, has been on death row in Jordan since she confessed to her role as a would-be suicide bomber in a string of al Qaeda attacks in Jordan in 2005 that killed dozens.
Prior to reports of Jordan’s willingness to accept the trade, Middle East expert Jon Alterman told ABC News that by asking for, and potentially gaining al-Rishawi’s release, ISIS is attempting to bolster its long-held goal of being seen as a proper nation-state on a geopolitical scale.
“What it represents is ISIS again trying to act like a real country. It’s a small group of outlaws trying to engage in governments,” Alterman, head of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Tuesday.
ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has publicly beheaded dozens of captives, including a handful of Western journalists and aid workers, sometimes after making demands of their governments.
The Japanese hostage Goto was not mentioned in statements made by Jordanian officials about a potential deal Wednesday, despite comments overnight from top Japanese officials that they are working closely with Jordan to find ways to free both hostages.
“Please save Kenji’s life,” Goto’s mother said in her own video, released Tuesday. “Kenji has only a little time left.”
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