Islamic State: Jordan tortured by fate of pilot hostage

THE family of Lt Moaz al-Kasasbeh has endured more than 40 days of anguish since learning of his capture by Islamic State, but the past week has been the most traumatic.

Twice militants set deadlines for a deal to be done, threatening to kill the Jordanian pilot if his government did not hand over an imprisoned Iraqi woman in exchange for a Japanese journalist.

At sunset on Wednesday and then Thursday Jordanians waited for news but none came.

Now the Japanese journalist, Kenji Goto, appears to have been killed, and Jordan is waiting anxiously for any news about Lt Kasasbeh.

Jordan’s military states that it has seen no proof he is “safe and well”. His close relatives say the same.

“Until now we don’t have any news about my brother [to show] whether he is alive or not but we hope to God he’s alive,” Jawat Kasasbeh tells me.

“It’s too difficult to imagine what we’ve been through. We hope God will give us a chance to see my brother again soon.”

Sipping bitter coffee in a fug of cigarette smoke, members of the fighter pilot’s powerful tribe, from Karak, south of Amman, have been sitting and waiting for developments at a community building in the capital.

Posters of the 26-year-old in uniform bearing the legend “We are all Moaz” are displayed on the walls.

As he nervously fingers his prayer beads, the father of the pilot, Safi al-Kasasbeh, receives a series of politicians and public figures.

On Wednesday night, after a demonstration outside the nearby al-Husseini Palace, he met King Abdullah. The king, Mr Kasasbeh said, assured him that “everything will be fine, God willing”.

Mr Kasasbeh had been highly critical of how the Jordanian authorities were handling this affair and their foreign policy.