Japan PM says gathering information with Jordan | Deadline passed for release of Iraqi prisoner in Jordan | Captive crisis a big test for Japan PM Abe | Kenji Goto's wife urged both governments to work for her husband's release
Japan was working closely with Jordan on Friday to find out what was happening to a Japanese journalist held by Islamic State militants after a deadline passed for the release of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death-row in Jordan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said every effort was being made to secure the release of journalist Kenji Goto. "We are gathering and analysing information while asking for cooperation from Jordan and other countries, making every effort to free Kenji Goto," Abe told a parliamentary panel.
Jordan said on Thursday it was still holding the Iraqi woman death-row prisoner as a deadline passed for her release set by the militants, who threatened to kill a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed over by sunset.
An audio message purportedly from Goto said the pilot 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.
The message postponed a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which Goto said he would be killed within 24 hours if Rishawi was not freed.
The hostage crisis comes as Islamic State, which has already released videos showing the beheadings of five Western hostages, is coming under increased military pressure from US led air strikes and by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to reverse the Islamist group's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.
About an hour before the new deadline was due to pass, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said Jordan was still holding Rishawi.
"We want proof that the pilot is alive so that we can proceed with what we said yesterday - exchanging the prisoner with our pilot," Momani told Reuters.
The pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh, was captured after his jet crashed in northeastern Syria in December during a bombing mission against Islamic State.
Momani said separately that Jordan was coordinating with Japanese authorities in an effort to secure the release of Goto, a veteran war reporter.
Goto's wife urged both governments to work for her husband's release, saying in a statement to Reuters and other media thatshe feared this was his last chance.
In the latest audio recording purportedly of Goto, he said that Kasaesbeh would be killed "immediately" if al-Rishawi was not at the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time,
ready to be exchanged for the Japanese hostage.
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