ISIL hostages’ fate unclear as deadline passes

The fate of a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese journalist remained unclear as a deadline passed for Jordan to release an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL).Japanese officials had no new progress to report on Friday after a late night that ended with the Jordanian government saying it would only release an al-Qaeda prisoner from death row if it got proof the airman was alive.“There is nothing I can tell you,” government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday. He reiterated Japan’s “strong trust” in the Jordanians to help save the Japanese hostage, freelance journalist Kenji Goto.Suga said the government had been in close contact with Goto’s wife, Rinko Jogo, who released a statement 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 a London-based organisation for freelance journalists.“My husband and I have two very young daughters. Our baby girl was only three weeks old when Kenji left. I hope our oldest daughter, who is just two, will get to see her father again. I want them both to grow up knowing their father.”An audio message purportedly from Goto said Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Moaz al-Kasasbeh would be killed unless Jordan freed Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in Amman.Earlier, a spokesperson for Jordan’s government demanded proof of life for their pilot before moving ahead with any possible swap to bring about his release.“We want to see a proof of life of the Jordanian pilot and then we can talk about the exchange,” Mohammed al-Momani said.”