Tense Islamic State negotiations revolve around symbolic figures

Jordan has given priority to securing the release of air force pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh captured by Islamic State last month, while the cult appears to have chosen failed al-Qaeda suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi because of her close connection to slain al-Qaeda chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, revered by Islamic State as its founder.

First-Lieut Kasaesbeh (27) was on a US-led bombing mission targeting Islamic State positions around its capital at Raqqa in north central Syria when his jet went down due to enemy fire or technical malfunction. He was the first coalition officer to fall into Islamic State hands.

The pilot’s father, Safi Kasaesbeh, said Jordan’s King Abdullah had received him on Wednesday evening and reassured him the authorities were doing everything to free his son. Jordan has given priority to rescuing the pilot over the release of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, although Japan is a big donor to it – of some $178 million in loans and grants.

Kasaesbeh is from a village near the crusader castle city of Kerak, south of Jordan’s capital, Amman, and belongs to a prominent Sunni family and tribe. His uncle was a general in the professional Jordanian army, which has traditionally filled its ranks with tribesmen loyal to the monarchy.

Following his capture, Jordanian social media buzzed with demands for his release and messages of solidarity. Christian clergy, led by Jerusalem’s Latin patriarch Fouad Twal, visited the pilot’s Sunni Muslim family and extended support.

The pilot was last heard from in an Islamic State propaganda interview published by its magazine. He said he feared he would be killed. Its supporters were asked to tweet means of killing him, intensifying alarm in Jordan as well as opposition to the kingdom’s participation in the anti-Islamic State coalition.

Early this month, US special forces reportedly tried to rescue Kasaesbeh, prompting the Jordanian authorities to initiate negotiations to free him. A swap with jailed fundamentalists was mooted.

However, the Jordanian authorities were surprised when Islamic State demanded, in exchange for Kasaesbeh, the release of Rishawi, an illiterate vegetable vendor, rather than the freedom of high-profile jihadis. From the Iraqi city of Ramadi west of Baghdad, Rishawi (46) has been on death row in Jordan’s women’s prison since 2005 for participating in suicide bombings that killed 57 people in three luxury hotels. The explosive vest of her husband, Ali Hussein al-Shamari, detonated but hers did not. She fled the scene and took refuge with a relative, who discovered the vest and called the police.

Jordanians, who pride themselves on their security services, were deeply shocked by the attack.

Rishawi was, reportedly, motivated by the death of her eldest brother,Thamer al-Rishawi, during 2004 US air strikes on the Iraqi city of Falluja. He was a close aide of al-Qaeda chief Zarqawi, a Jordanian who fought against the Soviet army in Afghanistan and US forces in Iraq and was killed in a US bombing run in June 2006. The Zarqawi connection rather than her membership of the Rishawi tribe is likely to have prompted Islamic State to call for her release.

Faced with the political clout wielded by Kasaesbeh’s family and tribe and the dire threat to kill the two hostages issued by Islamic State, Japan has been unable to affect negotiations over the fate of Goto. He is a journalist who travelled to Syria to plead for the life of his friend, hostage Haruna Yukawa, said to have been executed when Japan refused to pay ransom of $200 million for the two men.