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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jordan: Prosecution urges court to convict Islamist deputies

2006-08-01

The prosecution on Monday asked the State Security Court (SSC) to convict the three Islamist deputies charged with fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism. “The three deputies betrayed the Jordanian people by their actions,” the SSC prosecution said in its 16-page closing argument. The prosecution was referring to the deputies’ condolence visit on June 9 to the family of Abu Mussab Zarqawi and also to a televised interview in which one of the MPs allegedly described the former Al Qaeda in Iraq leader as a “hero and a martyr.” The three Islamic Action Front (IAF) MPs on trial are Ali Abul Sukkar (Zarqa, Second District), Mohammad Abu Fares (Amman, Fifth District) and Jaafar Hourani (Zarqa, Fourth District). “The deputies’ actions angered the Jordanian people who expected the MPs to stand next to them in fighting terrorism and terrorists,” the prosecution said. Zarqawi, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq on June 8, claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 terrorist attacks against three of the capital’s hotels, killing 60 people and injuring around a hundred. “The Jordanian people and the prosecution awaits justice from your tribunal to calm people down and hand the defendants the maximum punishment,” the prosecution said. If convicted of the charges, the MPs, who do not have parliamentary immunity because the Lower House is currently in recess, could receive a maximum of three years in prison.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jordan Islamist deputies on trial over Zarqawi visit

2006-07-25

Three prominent Jordanian Islamist deputies went on trial on Monday on charges of sowing national discord by visiting the family of slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Mohammad Abu Faris, Ali Abu al-Sukar and Jaafar Hourani all denied charges of stirring up "internal strife and national divisions" by paying their respects to the family of Jordanian born Zarqawi after his death last month. They were among hundreds who went to a tent set up by Zarqawi's family in his birthplace to welcome hundreds of sympathisers. The three defendants, senior members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested on June 12, a day after their visit. They did not enjoy parliamentary immunity because parliament was in recess. Abu Faris, alleged to have described Zarqawi as a "martyr," told the military court "I am not guilty and I made no speeches when I offered condolences." The government said the visit was an affront to the feelings of most Jordanians, including relatives of 60 people killed in three hotel bombings in the capital Amman last November that Zarqawi claimed to have ordered. The government said it had arrested the legislators after a lawsuit was filed by the families of some victims of the hotel bombings. The Islamists said the deputies' visit to Zarqawi's family was in line with Muslim tradition and did not mean they supported indiscriminate killings of civilians. They accused the government of using the visit as a pretext to step up a state campaign to curb the organisation's growing influence. The government has been alarmed by the mainstream Islamist movement's more vocal role since its ally, the militant Palestinian movement Hamas, swept to power in last January's Palestinian elections. The IAF, with 17 deputies in the 110-member assembly, has called for sweeping political reforms, including an elected government and changes in an electoral law that works against their chances of gaining political control.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Trial of three Jordanian Islamist MPs set for Sunday

2006-07-19

Jordan's State Security Court (SSC) is due to start the trial next Sunday of three Islamist lawmakers on charges of 'incitement and harming national unity,' judicial sources said Tuesday. The three deputies, Mohammad Abu Fares, Ali Abul Sukkar and Jaafar Hourani-- belong to the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party. They were arrested on June 11 after extending condolences to the family of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader who was killed in a US airstrike on June 7 in Iraq. A fourth detained lawmaker, Ibrahim Mashwaki, was released last week and the SSC's public prosecutor said Tuesday he would not be tried because he did not make any comments during his visit to the tent that was set up by al-Zarqawi's family in his home city of Zarqa, 30 kilometres East of Amman, on June 8. Abu Fares delivered a speech at the tent praising the slain al- Qaeda leader as a 'martyr', a remark that angered the families of 60 people who were killed in Amman's triple hotel bombings on November 9 and prompted them to file a suit against the three MPs. The blasts were claimed by al-Zarqawi's group, the Jihad and Tawhid Brigades, which is reportedly affiliated with al-Qaeda organization of Osama Bin Laden. Abu Fares is currently in the intensive care unit at an Amman medical centre after his health condition deteriorated over the past couple of days, according to medical sources. "'Morning, Abu! How're y'feeling today?" "Ow... Ow... Ow... Aaaaaiiiieee!" "Aw, shucks. That's too bad... Okay, Mahmoud. You can let go now." "My tongue! He thtomped on my tongue!... Ow!... Ow... Ow... Aaaaiiiieee!"

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Dupe URL: 'Judeh says HRW’s statement 'insulting’ to Jordanians

2006-06-20

The government on Monday said recent remarks by a Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director on the detention of four Islamist MPs on charges of incitement were “insulting”. “Such remarks were insulting to a lot of Jordanians,” Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh told reporters yesterday at a weekly press briefing. “The Jordanian government needs no apology from HRW, but the families of the Amman bombings’ victims need apology letters from HRW Executive Director for Middle East and North Africa Sarah Leah Whitson.” Islamic Action Front (IAF) MPs Ali Abul Sukkar (Zarqa, Second District), Mohammad Abu Fares (Amman, Fifth District), Ibrahim Mashoukhi (Zarqa, First District) and Jaafar Hourani (Zarqa, Fourth District) were charged with “fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism” after condoling the family of killed Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Mussab Zarqawi and praising him as a “martyr” and a “holy warrior”. In her statement on Saturday, Whitson said: “Expressing condolences to the family of a dead man, however murderous he might be, is not a crime. And it shouldn’t be grounds for prosecution. Nor should a dubious comment about an alleged terrorist leader, even by a member of Parliament, be considered incitement to violence. Going after these people is an unacceptable violation of their basic rights to free speech.” Judeh said he was surprised HRW considered the MPs’ comments as part of their “legitimate freedom of speech”.

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