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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jordan Islamists Urge 'Jihad' against Syrian Regime
2012-02-13
[An Nahar] Jordan's powerful Moslem Brüderbund on Sunday called for "jihad" against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Trampler of Homs...
regime and support for a rebel army, saying it is "an Islamic duty."

"This duty requires all Moslems to support the (rebel) Free Syrian Army against the aggression of the regime's criminal and brutal forces," Brotherhood leader Hammam Saeed was quoted as saying in a statement on the group's website.

"The Free Syrian Army must continue to defend its nation and face the crimes of the regime."

The crackdown on protests in Syria have killed more than 6,000 people since March last year.

"Jihad against Assad is an Islamic duty," said Mohammad Abu Fares, a member of the movement's fatwa (religious edict) committee.

"The Syrian people have the right to defend themselves. They must not give up."

The Islamists, who demanded Jordan recognize the opposition Syrian National Council, sent letters Sunday to the prime ministers of Russia and China, urging them to reconsider their vetoes used earlier this month to block a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria's regime.

"The veto was a green light for Assad's regime to multiply its crimes against the Syrian people," said Hamzeh Mansour, chief of the Islamic Action Front
...Jordan's branch of the Moslem Brüderbund...
, the Brotherhood's political arm, which have urged Moslems and Arabs to boycott Russian and Chinese products.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit...
Jordan's Hashemite Charity Organization said it will open a camp to host Syrian refugees near the border by the end of next week.

"The 30-dunum refugee camp (each equivalent to 1,000 square meters) will receive Syrian families who are expected to come to Jordan," organization secretary general Ahmad Emyan told the state-run Petra news agency.

"Currently there are 700 Syrian families in the southern city of Mafraq, where the organization has rented houses for them."

Government figures are unavailable on Syrians who have decamped to neighboring Jordan from the deadly unrest in their country, but U.N. head the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said during a visit to Amman last month that the kingdom was hosting 2,500 Syrians.
Link


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.
Link


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!"
Link


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”.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
4 Jordanian MPs Blasted Over Zark
2006-06-16
Three thousand Jordanians demonstrated yesterday against four Islamist lawmakers who last week extended condolences to the family of the slain Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Demonstrators chanted slogans and carried placards dubbing the MPs as “terrorists” and calling for their expulsion from the House of Representatives.

The demonstration took off from the Parliament’s premises and ended in front of the Radisson SAS, one of three hotels which were targeted by the Nov. 9 suicide bombings that killed 60 civilians and wounded more than 90 others. The blasts were claimed by Zarqawi’s group, the Jihad and Tawhid Brigades.

The four deputies, who belong to the Islamic Action Front (IAF), visited a tent that was set up last week in Zarqawi’s home city of Zarqa, 30 kilometers east of Amman, to receive condolences upon the passing away of the Al-Qaeda leader who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq. One of the lawmakers, Mohammad Abu Fares, went further to describe Zarqawi in a Friday sermon as a “martyr”. The four MPs have been charged with “incitement to terrorism” for their visit. On Monday the military prosecutor ordered that the MPs -Abu Fares, Jaafar Horani, Ibrahim Mashukhi and Ali Abu Sukkar — be held in custody for 15 days.
Link



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