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(Bloomberg) — Japan said it was still working to free hostages held by Islamic State after the group’s deadline to execute the men passed, fueling concerns over their fate.
The militant group had set a deadline of 11:30 p.m. Thursday in Tokyo to execute Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and a Jordanian pilot if Jordan didn’t free a jailed jihadist. Jordan refused to release the woman without proof Moath al- Kasassbeh was still alive and a commitment that the pilot would be included in any swap.
“Goto’s release is top priority and we are asking the Jordanian government for cooperation,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday. “We are in contact with them and have mutual trust.”
No communication from Islamic State has surfaced since the deadline passed, adding to pressure on the governments in Amman and Tokyo to salvage negotiations to save the two men. Tensions are mounting in both capitals with family members stepping up emotional appeals on behalf of their loved ones.
“My husband and I have two very young daughters. Our baby girl was only three weeks old when Kenji left,” Rinko Goto said in a statement to the BBC, her first public comment since Islamic State first threatened to kill her husband on Jan. 20 “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.”
In a video released Wednesday a man purporting to be Goto said that Islamic State would kill Kasassbeh “immediately” if Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber on death row, wasn’t handed over by sunset Thursday in Mosul, Iraq and that Goto’s execution would follow.
The group demanded that al-Rishawi be transfered to the Turkish border for the swap. Without proof that Kasassbeh is alive, Jordan won’t move to free the woman sentenced to death for her role in a deadly 2005 attack on three hotels in Amman, Jordan’s Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said shortly before the deadline passed.
The pilot was captured by Islamic State last month when his plane crashed in Syria during a bombing run against the group. Jordan has joined the U.S.-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes against Islamic State.
–With assistance from Maiko Takahashi and Masaaki Iwamoto in Tokyo and Mohammad Tayseer in Amman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut at dabunasr@bloomberg.net; Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net Douglas Wong