Secret talks are going on in Jordan after a video, featuring Kenji Goto, a Japanese hostage of the Islamic State (IS) militants, surfaced online and warned that he and a Jordanian pilot had 24 hours to live unless an IS suicide bomber captured by Jordan is released.
The video came just hours after an audio tape was released on Tuesday. The audio clip conveyed the same message through Goto who warned that he and Jordanian pilot Mu'ath al-Kasasbeh would be killed unless the government released Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death for her role in a suicide bomb attack in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005, reported The Independent.
The plight of the two prisoners had been granted "urgent status" after the release of the audio clip and a member of Jordan's parliament suggested that indirect talks were underway.
Bassam Al-Manasseer, chairman of the country's foreign affairs committee, said that the negotiations were being channeled through religious and tribal leaders in Iraq and added that Japan and Jordan would not negotiate directly with the IS nor accept the release of just one prisoner.
Al-Manasseer's statement has offered the strongest indication that a prisoner swap deal may be on the cards, something that would be in breach of official British and U.S. hostage policy.
Jordan is part of the U.S.-led coalition that is battling to push back the IS in Iraq and Syria.
