Meet 'Sajida al-Rishawi' the Woman ISIS Wants In Exchange For a Japanese Hostage

She's remembered as the would-be bomber whose device failed to detonate in a string of otherwise deadly terror attacks at Jordanian hotels in 2005.

But just who is the woman supposedly named in the latest hostage demand from ISIS? And what's her connection to the new radical Sunni group that controls big swaths of Syria and Iraq?
Sajida al-Rishawi is referred to as an "imprisoned sister" of the terrorist group in a message purportedly posted online by a known ISIS supporter.

The message proposes a swap of al-Rishawi for Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. In the video, Goto is seen holding a photo of what appears to be beheaded compatriot Haruna Yukawa.

The online posts, appeared four days after an ISIS video demanded that the Japanese government pay $200 million within 72 hours for the hostages' release.

In the latest recording, the voice of a person claiming to be Goto is heard in English blaming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for Yukawa's death. Forgoing the money, the voice then issues a new ISIS demand: the release of al-Rishawi.

"They are just demanding the release of their imprisoned sister Sajida al-Rishawi," the voice said.

Al-Rishawi, who is being held by authorities in Jordan, has not been seen publicly in nine years.
In a televised confession in November 2005, al-Rishawi calmly recounted how she tried to take part in a string of terror attacks at Jordanian hotels that month that killed at least 57 people.

"My husband detonated his bomb, and I tried to detonate mine but failed," al-Rishawi said on Jordanian television, showing no emotion. "People fled running, and I left running with them."

In 2006, al-Rishawi was sentenced to death, but that same year, Jordan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty. Executions resumed last month.

Jordanian authorities said al-Rishawi, now in her 40s, joined her husband, Hussein Ali al-Shamari, to carry out the suicide bombings at the Radisson hotel.
His explosives went off, killing 38 people attending a wedding reception in the ballroom. Three male bombers and 57 bystanders were killed at three hotels in the series of attacks.

She said she was an Iraqi who lived in Ramadi and, using fake passports, traveled to Jordan with her husband. She told Jordanian authorities that her husband taught her how to use her explosives belt.

In the confession, al-Rishawi said, "My husband is the one who organized everything."
"There was a wedding ceremony in the hotel," she said. "There were women, men and children."
her husband stood at opposite sides of the room for the double-bombing, She continued.

Jordanian authorities at the time said the attacks were orchestrated by the terrorist group al Qaeda in Iraq, which was led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. strike in June 2006. A post on a website used by al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Jordan attacks.