Secret talks in Jordan try to win release of IS hostages

apanese officials were tightlipped Wednesday as secret talks in Jordan sought to secure the freedom of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State extremists and purportedly threatened with death within 24 hours. The global efforts to free Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto and Jordanian Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh gained greater urgency with the release of the apparent ultimatum from the Islamic State group. In the message, the extremists say the two hostages will be killed within 24 hours - late Wednesday night Japan time - unless Jordan frees 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. The pilot’s father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, made a last-ditch appeal for Jordan “to meet the demands” of the Islamic State group.

All people must know, from the head of the regime to everybody else, that the safety of Mu’ath means the stability of Jordan, and the death of Mu’ath means chaos in Jordan.

Safi al-Kaseasbeh, pilot’s father

Al-Rishawi is in prison for her part in the Amman bombings in 2005 that killed 60 people. Moments after the new video appeared, Goto’s mother Junko Ishido urged the government to do “whatever it can do”. About 200 relatives of the pilot demonstrated outside the prime minister’s office in the Jordanian capital of Amman, chanting anti-government slogans and urging it to meet the captors’ demands. A member of Jordan’s parliament said the country was in indirect talks with the militants to secure the hostages’ release.

The Japanese government in this extremely severe situation has asked for collaboration from the Jordanian government to help secure the release of Kenji Goto swiftly. There’s no change to this stance.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga