Japanese officials had no progress to report after a late night that ended with the Jordanian government saying it would only release an al-Qaida prisoner from death row if it got proof the airman was alive, ctvnews reports.

"There is nothing I can tell you," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

An audio message purportedly posted online by ISIS said the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed if Sajida al-Rishawi, the al-Qaida prisoner, was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time. It was not clear from the recording what would happen to Goto if the Iraqi woman was not returned by the deadline.

After sundown in the Middle East, with no news on the fate of either the pilot or Goto, the families' agonizing wait dragged on.
Late Thursday, Goto's wife revealed that she had exchanged several emails with her husband's captors, and that in the past 20 hours she had received one appearing to be their final demand.

Late Thursday, Goto's wife revealed that she had exchanged several emails with her husband's captors, and that in the past 20 hours she had received one appearing to be their final demand.

She urged the Japanese and Jordanian governments to finalize a swap that would free both hostages. "I beg the Jordanian and Japanese governments to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she said.

In the Jordanian capital, Amman, the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh said his family had "no clue" about where the negotiations stood.

On Thursday afternoon, Jordan's government spokesman, Mohammed al-Momani, signalled that the hostage-takers had not delivered any proof the pilot is still alive.

Al-Rishawi, 44, faces death by hanging for her role in a suicide bombing, one of three simultaneous attacks on Amman hotels in November 2005 that killed 60 people. She survived because her belt of explosives didn't detonate. She initially confessed, but later recanted, saying she was an unwilling participant.

However, King Abdullah II faces public pressure to bring home the pilot, who was captured in December after his Jordanian F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot to be captured since the U.S. and its allies began airstrikes against the Islamic State more than four months ago.

Jordan's participation in the U.S.-led airstrikes is unpopular in the kingdom, and the pilot is seen by some as the victim of a war they feel the country shouldn't be involved in.

Al-Kaseasbeh's relatives have expressed such views and accused the government of bungling efforts to win his freedom.

The hostage drama began last week after the Islamic State group released a video showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa kneeling in orange jumpsuits beside a masked man who threatened to kill them in 72 hours unless Japan paid a $200 million ransom. That demand has since apparently shifted to one for the release of al-Rishawi.

The militants have reportedly killed Yukawa, 42, although that has not been confirmed.