Jordan To Execute Al Qaeda Prisoner After Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive By ISIS, Report Says

UPDATE 10:30 p.m. EST: Jordan executed two al Qaeda prisoners just hours after vowing to avenge the death of a Jordania fighter pilot captured by the Islamic State Group and burned to death, the Associated Press reported. Jordan executed would-be suicide bomber Sajida Rishawi and jihadist Ziyad al-Karbouli at dawn.

Original post:

A Jordanian security official told the Associated Press an al Qaeda prisoner will be executed Wednesday at dawn, just hours after Jordan vowed to avenge the death of a fighter pilot captured and killed by the Islamic State group. Jordan had twice offered to swap the al Qaeda prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, for the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh. But ISIS militants failed to provide proof Kaseasbeh was still alive, and a video released by the group late Tuesday purportedly showed the 26-year-old was burned alive a month ago.

The Jordanian official, who reportedly spoke on condition of anonymity, told AP Rishawi was transported before daybreak Wednesday to Swaqa prison where the 44-year-old Iraqi woman would be executed at dawn.

Rishawi faces death by hanging for allegedly trying to bomb a hotel in Amman. Rishawi was arrested by Jordanian authorities in 2005 after she failed to detonate an explosive belt. However, three other al Qaeda members -- including her husband -- successfully detonated explosives inside three hotels and killed at least 57 people, the New York Times reported.

Rishawi and her husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari of Iraq's Anbar province, were allegedly targeting a Jordanian-Palestinian wedding reception of about 300 people at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Jordan's capital, the AP said. A group of militants later demanded Rishawi's release and threatened to kill a Jordanian hostage, CNN reported.

Rishawi is the sister of a former right-hand man to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Jordanian-born Zarqawi was often called the lead operator of al Qaeda in Iraq -- a precursor to the Islamic State group, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent U.S. think tank.

ISIS militants purportedly posted an audio message last week threatening to kill the Jordanian pilot if Rishawi was not released Jan. 29. But Jordanian officials demanded evidence Kaseasbeh was still alive and threatened to expedite Rishawi’s execution if the pilot was killed. Jordan renewed its offer Sunday to swap prisoners, one day after a video purportedly showed Japanese journalist Kenji Goto’s beheading.

The Islamic State group initially had sought to swap Goto for Rishawi after beheading another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa. "You bring them their sister from the Jordanian regime, and I will be released immediately -- me for her," the voice of a man claiming to be Goto said in a video posted Jan. 24 by a known ISIS supporter.