Jordan ready to release Iraqi woman if ISIS release pilot

(Reuters)- Jordan said Wednesday it was willing to hand over an Iraqi woman detained for her role in a 2005 suicide bombing in Amman if a Jordanian pilot captured by ISIS was released.

"Jordan is ready to release prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh was released and his life spared," Mohammad al-Momani, a government spokesman, was quoted on state television as saying.

He did not make any reference to Japanese hostage Kenji Goto who said in a video Tuesday that ISIS had given Jordan 24 hours to release the Iraqi militant or the pilot would be killed.

Momani said Jordan's priority was to secure the release of the pilot, who hails from a Jordanian tribe that forms the backbone of support for the Hashemite monarchy.

Several hundred people, including relatives of the pilot, gathered in front of the office of Jordan's prime minister late Tuesday urging authorities to meet the demands of Islamic State and release al-Rishawi.

Kasaesbeh was captured after his jet crashed in northeastern Syria in December during a bombing mission against the militants.