Jordan

[NewsGuy]

Jordan bars publication of Saddam novel

JAMAL HALABY
Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan - It seems even fallen dictators have trouble getting their novels published. Jordan has barred publication of Saddam Hussein's fourth novel, titled "Get Out, Damned One," due to political concerns, a senior Jordanian official said Sunday.

"I just assessed whether this would be in Jordan's national interest and I thought it was not because the whole issue bears political ramifications which do not serve Jordan at all," Ahmad Qudah, head of the Press and Publications Department, told The Associated Press.

"I have declined to ordain the printing and circulation of the novel said to be written by Saddam because we in Jordan will not sacrifice our ties with Iraq for anything."

Jordan enjoys cordial relations with the elected government in Iraq, hosting training sessions for Iraqi police cadets, army and anti-terrorism units as part of its contribution to Iraq's postwar reconstruction.

The novel tells the story of a man named Ezekiel who plots to overthrow a town's sheik but is defeated by the sheik's daughter and an Arab warrior.

The story is apparently a metaphor for a Zionist-Christian plot against Arabs and Muslims. Ezekiel is meant to symbolize the Jews.

Qudah said his department "did not tackle the content of the novel."

Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, told the AP she expected the novel to be published in the next week. She said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003 - a day before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began - and expressed a wish to publish the book under his name.

The three other novels he wrote were simply signed, "Its author."

"It was my father's will to publish this book," Raghad said Friday.

She said an Iraqi artist designed the book's cover and a Jordanian publishing house would print the book in Arabic. English and French translations will follow, she added.

Raghad also wrote a dedication to her father on the book's back cover, which said, in part: "You, who raised our heads high, the heads of the Iraqis, the Arabs and the Muslims ... we present to you our souls ... to the father of the heroes, to my beloved and dear father, with all my respect and glory to you."

She could not be reached by telephone Sunday.

Some Arab newspapers published excerpts of the novel last year without permission, with the first appearing in the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

Ali Abdel Amir, an Iraqi writer and critic who has read the whole manuscript, said the novel was similar in style to the other three attributed to Saddam.

Abdel Amir said "Get Out, Damned One" describes an Arab leading an army that invades the land of the enemy and topples one of their monumental towers, an apparent reference to the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Asharq al-Awsat, which published the entire work over several days last year, said the manuscript was found in the Ministry of Culture after Baghdad's fall. It said it had received its copy from Saddam's physician, Alla Bashir, who fled Iraq after the war and was believed to be in Qatar.

Saddam, 68, also has been credited with writing three other books: "Zabibah and the King," "The Fortified Citadel" and "Men and a City."

"Zabibah and the King" tells a story of a leader who sacrifices a luxurious life for the sake of his people.

"The Fortified Citadel" described the rise to power of Saddam's Baath Party.

"Men and a City" is widely viewed as a thinly veiled autobiography, presenting him as powerful and heroic.

Saddam has been jailed under American control at a U.S. military detention complex near Baghdad airport since his December 2003 capture near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

He faces charges before a special war crimes tribunal that include killing rival politicians over 30 years, gassing Kurds in the northern town of Halabja in 1988, invading Kuwait in 1990, and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.

No trial date has been set. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/11991857.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[Ono]

Jordan Arrests 17 in Alleged Terror Plot

By Associated Press
August 4, 2005, 10:07 PM EDT


AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan has arrested 17 militants linked to al-Qaida who were allegedly plotting to attack U.S. troops and Jordanian intelligence agents, a military prosecutor said Thursday.

The militants belonged to the Iraqi chapter of al-Qaida, which is led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a previously unknown Saudi group called the Brigades of the Holy Shrines, said prosecutor Maj. Fawaz al-Otoum in a statement.

"Jordan's public security forces brought before me 17 people who belonged to two terror organizations," al-Otoum said in the statement. "Both groups devised plots to attack officers of the Jordanian intelligence department and U.S. military personnel in Jordan."

Al-Otoum said the accused were also involved in "recruiting men and collecting contributions to carry out terror attacks."

Initial charges include "plotting to carry out terror attacks and destroying Jordan's relations with a foreign country," he added. People convicted of terror attacks can be condemned to death in Jordan.

Jordan's security forces stepped up their vigilance after warnings of attacks on Western targets in the kingdom following last month's bombings in London and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

[Ethyl]

Rockets fired at U.S. Navy ships in Aqaba

Missiles fired from an unknown source in Jordan narrowly missed a U.S. Navy ship early Friday. Another missile fell close to a nearby airport in Israel.

The attacks are believed to have originated from a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a port city on the Red Sea south of the capital, Amman.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh died on the way to hospital, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the press. Another unidentified Jordanian was also wounded, the official added.

Two American amphibious ships from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet were docked in Aqaba when the Katyusha rockets were fired. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time, a suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the USS Ashland and USS Kearsage," said U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown.

Israeli police and witnesses said a rocket hit a taxi travelling near the airport in Israel's nearby Red Sea resort of Eilat, but did not explode.

"I heard a noise, the car shook, and I kept driving for two more metres," said Israeli cab driver Meir Farhan, 40, who suffered mild wounds. "I didn't realize what it was, (but) when I went out of the car I saw a hole in the ground on the asphalt."

Jodanian officials are hunting a Syrian, and two Iraqi nationals.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/08/19/missiles_from_jordan050819.html

[NYer]

"Missed by THAT much ..."
M Smart, 86

Missile Attacks Target U.S. Vessel, Israel

Friday, August 19, 2005

AMMAN, Jordan — One of three missiles fired from Jordan (search) narrowly missed a U.S. Navy ship docked at port on Friday but the attack left one Jordanian soldier dead and another wounded.

Another missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said. A Jordanian security official said another missile landed near a Jordanian hospital.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet (search), based in Bahrain, said two American amphibious ships were docked in Aqaba when a mortar was fired toward them. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown told The Associated Press in Bahrain.

FOX News has learned that a number of people are being hunted in the incident, including two Iraqis, one Syrian and possibly some Egyptians. The city of Aqaba has also been closed off.

A group linked to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility in an Internet statement. The statement purportedly from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades could not immediately be verified.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the mortar sailed over one of the U.S. ships and slammed into a warehouse, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity.

The soldier died in the ambulance taking him to hospital; another Jordanian was also wounded, the official added. No sailors or Marines were injured in the attack, Brown said.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time, a suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and USS Kearsage," Brown said. "The warehouse sustained an approximate 8-foot hole in the roof of the building."

The attacks were believed to have been launched from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman, officials said.

"It reminds you almost of the Cole attack," said Mark Ginsberg, a former U.S. ambassador, referring to the October 2000 attack on the U.S. Navy ship, the USS Cole.

"From press reports, it appears it was Syrians and two Iraqis with a Kuwaiti license plate that had these rockets," Ginsberg told FOX News. "Where do you get these rockets in the Middle East? From Hezbollah (search) or Iran. The Iranians are the biggest supplier of these rockets to Hezbollah."

U.S. Navy vessels have been on Al Qaeda's target list since 2000, when operatives rammed a boat loaded with explosives into the destroyer USS Cole while it was in port in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. The Navy then implemented measures aimed at increasing the physical security of ships in port.

The attacks come amid a time of tension in the region marked by Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian Gaza and several terrorist attacks on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during the past year, including the July 23 attack in Sharm el-Sheik (search).

Aqaba and Eilat are about 10 miles apart and located on either side the Jordan-Israeli border at the northern end of the Red Sea close to Sinai Peninsula (search).

Israeli police and witnesses said a Katyusha rocket fired from Jordan slammed into a taxi traveling near the airport in Israel's nearby Red Sea resort of Eilat, but did not explode.

"I heard a noise, the car shook, and I kept driving for two more meters (yards)," said Israeli cab driver Meir Farhan, 40, who suffered mild wounds. "I didn't realize what it was. When I went out of the car I saw a hole in the ground on the asphalt."

The rocket left a small crater in the road about 15 yards from the Eilat airport fence, said local police commander Avi Azulin.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking in southern Israel, said the attacks were "intended to hit the Israeli side and the Jordanian side as well."

Jordan, which is home to 1.8 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and Israel signed a 1994 peace deal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166190,00.html

[Petronas]

Jordan's Security Chief, 10 Others Resign
Nov 15 1:36 PM US/Eastern
AMMAN, Jordan

Eleven top Jordanian officials, including the kingdom's national security adviser, resigned Tuesday in the wake of last week's triple hotel bombings, state-run TV announced. Also, a fourth American died from wounds suffered in the attacks, a U.S. Embassy official said. Jordan also introduced strict security measures aimed at foreigners and said it was drafting the country's first anti-terror specific legislation to prevent more such attacks.

King Abdullah II appointed Marouf al-Bakhit, Amman's ambassador to Israel, to replace outgoing security chief Saad Kheir, a former head of Jordan's intelligence department. No details were given for the resignation of Kheir and 10 others, including prominent religious advisers to Abdullah, but a limited shake-up had been expected. The moves came as more details emerged about the 35-year-old Iraqi woman who failed in her bid to blow herself up in an Amman hotel, with friends saying she had three brothers killed by U.S. forces.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/15/D8DT2LDO0.html

[Petronas]

Defendants deny recruiting militants to fight US military in Iraq
Thursday, November 17, 2005
By Rana Husseini

AMMAN — Seven men standing trial accused of recruiting militants to fight US forces in Iraq pleaded not guilty to all charges on Wednesday. The defendants told the military tribunal at the State Security Court (SSC) that they had no intention of fighting in Iraq and that “their confessions were extracted under duress.” The men, aged 23 to 33, are accused of recruiting militants in Jordan and sending them to Syria, where an individual identified as Abu Janna allegedly provided them with military training. According to the charge sheet, Abu Janna then helped the recruits infiltrate into Iraq “to fight American forces and Iraqi policemen.”

In a second terror-related trial at the SSC on Wednesday, five relatives of Jordanian men charged with plotting attacks against hotels, tourists and General Intelligence Department (GID) officers in 2005, testified under oath to seeing torture marks on the defendants' bodies. The defendants were identified by the prosecution as Osama Abu Hazeem, 23, Hatem Ensour, 20, Mohammad Arabiat, 24, and Yazan Haliq, 24. The fifth, Mohammad Qteishat, remains at large and will be tried in absentia. The men are charged with conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks and possession of illegal explosives with illicit intent. The prosecution alleges that in 1999 Haliq travelled to Syria to study and later befriended a 24-year-old Jordanian man by the name of Al Miqdad Dabbas in 2001. According to the charge sheet, Dabbas introduced Haliq to people who would help him cross into Iraq to fight. Dabbas was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in March 2005 by the SSC for plotting subversive acts against Jordanian targets in Iraq with Jordanian fugitive Abu Mussab Zarqawi.

According to the charge sheet, Abu Hazeem travelled to Syria in 2003 and met with Dabbas, who provided him with the e-mail address of a person who would facilitate his entry into Iraq. Abu Hazeem returned to Jordan and asked Ensour and Arabiat to join them. Ensour then entered Iraq in mid-2003 and met with Qteishat. The two men then underwent weapons and explosives training, the charge sheet said. In September 2004, Abu Hazeem again travelled to Syria and received training in explosives, before returning to the Kingdom the same month with detonators, according to the prosecution. The charge sheet said that Haliq travelled to Lebanon in January 2005 where he received training in weapons and explosives before returning to the Kingdom.

The group then decided to target three luxury hotels in the Kingdom frequented by tourists and GID officers, but the four men were arrested in February 2005 before carrying out the alleged plans, it said. The military tribunal adjourned both cases until next Wednesday.

http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews6.htm

I wonder if the three hotels were the same as the ones that ended up getting bombed. Syria seems to be working hard at earning itself the right to take over the vacant position of the "Axis of Evil"

[Petronas]

Mandate reform, fight against terror — Monarch
Friday-Saturday, November 25-26, 2005

Following are excerpts of His Majesty King Abdullah's Letter of Designation to Prime Minister-designate Marouf Bakhit:

... The terrorist bombings that hit some facilities in our precious capital, claimed the lives of innocent citizens and left behind scores of injuries, add to our determination to adhere to our constants and irreversible approach of reform and democratisation. But at the same time, these attacks underline the need to embrace a comprehensive strategy to face the culture of takfir; a strategy that does not only adopt a security solution, but also takes into consideration the intellectual, cultural and political dimensions. This requires drafting a law to counter all forms of terrorism and wage a no-mercy war on the schools of takfir that are nourished by bigotry, backwardness and isolationism, live on the ignorance of simple and naïve people and work under the guidance of misleading fatwas and approaches. ...

http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews2.htm

[Petronas]

Jordan Islamists warn PM against crackdown
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
November 25, 2005

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's mainstream Islamists on Friday warned Jordan's new security-minded Prime Minister Marouf Bakheet against adopting repressive policies to curb Muslim militancy, saying it would backfire and fuel extremism. King Abdullah asked Bakheet, 58, his national security chief and a member of the powerful intelligence establishment, to form a new cabinet with a strong mandate to wage an "all-out war" against Islamist militancy, two weeks after triple suicide bombings killed 60 people.

The Islamists expressed disquiet at the unusually tough language Abdullah used in his letter of appointment to Bakheet, saying it raised fears of a tougher crackdown on public freedoms in coming days under the pretext of a war on Muslim radicalism. "There is a need for security vigilance but not a tougher security grip that will only fuel extremism," Azzam Huneidi, a leader of the Islamic Action Party (IAF), the most vocal opposition group in the 110-seat parliament, told Reuters.

Huneidi accused the authorities of scaremongering in their public campaign against radical Islam since the bombings. "I am not belittling what has happened, but I think there is now a climate of fear of repression by the authorities..." said Huneidi, whose party is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest organized political movement.

King Abdullah gave Bakheet a free hand to tighten security policy after the November 9 bombings at three luxury hotels in Amman, for which the Al Qaeda wing in Iraq, headed by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility. "We have to fight an all-out war on Takfiri schools of thought that thrive on bigotry and extremism, feed on the ignorance of naive people and issue fatwas (religious edicts) that pose a danger to society," the monarch told Bakheet.

The spread of the "Takfiri" ideology embraced by al Qaeda, which condones the killing of Moslems opposed to their views by branding them as apostates, is overstated, Huneidi said. "This is an exaggeration ... because moderate Islam has always been dominant in Jordan even though we have been at the center of events in Palestine and Iraq," he said.

Islamist deputies echoed independent activists' rejection of a new anti-terror law that Abdullah ordered Bakheet to push through quickly as a main plank in the anti-terror drive. "There is no justification for any new law that undermines freedoms under the pretext of fighting terror," said Ali Abu Sukar, a prominent IAF deputy, adding that existing laws already dealt firmly with radical activists.

Moderate Islamists fear that any tougher crackdown in a country where dissent is already stifled by a strong security establishment would strengthen the influence of extremists. "The security dimension is not the most important in fighting extremism. We are in need of more freedoms," Abu Sukar said, adding that greater freedom was the best way to undercut support for radical views among alienated youths.

Islamists say poverty, and anger over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, are fostering the spread of religious extremism. Abu Sukar said his regular visits to political prisoners as a member of a parliamentary committee on public freedoms showed how extremism fed on state repression. "When we visit prisons we find that a lot of the security detainees adopted extremist views that they did not espouse before their arrest," he said.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/11/25/jordan_islamists_warn_pm_against_crackdown/

[Petronas]

Britain Closes Embassy in Jordan
Sat Jan 7, 4:10 PM ET

LONDON - Britain indefinitely closed its embassy in Jordan Saturday because of the danger of a terrorist attack, the Foreign Office said. A spokesman for the office would not comment on whether there had been a specific threat against the embassy in Amman, saying only that the closure was prompted by the security situation in Jordan. The Foreign Office also updated its advice for Britons visiting the Middle Eastern country to say that "terrorists may be in the final stages of planning attacks against Westerners and places frequented by Westerners."

Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh would not comment on the reasons for the embassy closure but told The Associated Press that Jordan's security authorities had "studied information on the threat and did not believe that it warranted closing down the British Embassy." "The Jordanian security apparatus provides the required protection to foreign embassies without any threat and in the event of a threat, steps up protection," Judeh said. "Britain took this decision. Jordan believes that the threat does not warrant closure of the British Embassy."

Britain's Foreign Office did not warn against traveling to Jordan, but noted in its updated advice that "there have been a number of successful and attempted terrorist attacks in Jordan since 2001." It specifically mentioned hotel bombings that killed 60 people in Amman in November, and said Jordanian security forces remained on alert. "If you are planning to travel to Jordan, you should take sensible precautions for your personal security arrangements throughout your visit," the advice warned. "Developments in the region could affect the security situation. A Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, said he did not know when the embassy would reopen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060107/ap_on_re_eu/britain_jordan;_ylt=Ahn4K_V_BOhPsiBN4MJCkyxw24cA;_ ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[Petronas]

Al Qaeda Mega-attack thwarted in Jordan
06-03-2006 , 11:09 GMT

A major suicide attack in Jordan by a group connected to Al Qaeda was reportedly thwarted recently by Jordanian security forces after a terror cell led by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi was apprehended this weekend. Four suspects were arrested in the Jordanian raid, according to Haaretz. The cell had reportedly planned to bomb a hotel, shopping center and power plant.

A separate warning also surfaced of a planned mega-attack in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid. Thousands of Jordanian citizens are employed in Irbid's industrial zone, raising fear amongst Jordanian officials of the repercussions of such an attack. "If such a terror attack is successful, the Jordanians, the Israelis and the Americans will all be affected," a senior defense official in Amman said. Irbid, located close to the border with Israel, houses a major industrial area in which several Israeli firms are located. Many of the goods produced in the area eventually make their way to the US market.

Additional classified information revealed that Al Qaeda planned to abduct Israeli citizens in Jordan, execute them and publish photos of their execution, according to Ynet. Severe warnings have been put out for Israelis to refrain from traveling to Jordan as well as the Sinai peninsula in Egypt as a result. Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has supported attacks against Israel and Jordan, where has jailed for years in the past.

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Jordan/195423

[abbood]

You guys... hey this is my country, and trust me it is more safe than the white house!

[Petronas]

Salafi-Jihadists in Jordan: From Prison Riots to Suicide Operation Cells
March 7, 2006
By Murad Al-Shishani

A Jordanian security source indicated that the General Intelligence Department (Mukhbarat) was able to foil a number of terrorist attacks in Jordan since the beginning of 2005. This was part of the announcement that Jordanian security forces were able to thwart a suicide operation targeting a "vital civil facility" (al-Ghad, March 2). The person who was supposed to carry out the operation was a Libyan national, Mohammad Darsi (25 years-old), in addition to two Iraqi nationals, Abdul Karim al-Jumaili (48 years-old) and Muhsen al-Lousi (34 years-old), both from Baghdad. They were caught with four kilograms of explosives of the same kind carried by Sajida al-Rishawi, the fourth suicide bomber, who failed to carry out her end of the plan in the bombing of three Jordanian hotels on November 9, 2005. The source indicated that security forces were on the trail of a Saudi national and three Iraqi nationals, from the same cell, who are still on the run (Petra News Agency, March 1). It was later announced that one of the Iraqis, Saad al-Nuaimi, was captured the following day.

Given the announcement that Jordanian security forces foiled several attacks since 2005 and the fact that the majority of the cell members were non-Jordanians, especially from Iraq, it would seem that the Salafi-Jihadist movement is focusing a great deal of its efforts on Jordan. Since the beginning of the Iraq war, Jordan has witnessed many trials and arrests of jihadists. Since that date, Jordanian courts are looking into 18 cases related to the Salafi-Jihadist movement compared to nine cases since 1991, the year when the first real appearance of the Salafi-Jihadist movement on the Jordanian scene arrived in Jaish Muhammad (the Army of Muhammad). Those cases began with the case against Azmi al-Jayousi and his companions, the "Tawhid and Jihad" case, who, upon Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's directions, tried to blow up the General Intelligence quarters in 2004.

Moreover, there is the case against Saudi national Fahd Nouman Suweilem al-Faqihi, who attempted to blow himself up on the Saudi-Jordanian border in 2004; he received the death sentence recently. There are also those accused with launching a missile attack in Aqaba in 2005. The number of Salafi-Jihadist cells and groups involved in Jordan clearly shows that the movement is focusing its attention on the country. It is estimated that the number of Salafi-Jihadist prisoners (convicts and detainees) held in Jordan consists of 180 males distributed among the following prisons: 79 in Jwaideh, 12 in Qafqafa, 12 in Birain and 20 in Swaqa (Ar-Rai, March 2).

The focus on Jordan is not restricted to some marginal groups. On the contrary, the convicts and detainees are highly organized and dangerous. They are incidentally the men who led the simultaneous riots in three Jordanian prisons in the first hours of March 1, in which a number of police officers were taken hostage for 13 hours in the Jwaideh prison.

The problem started with some Salafi-Jihadist prisoners opposing the police officers' attempt to isolate two convicts in the assassination of American diplomat Lawrence Foley, in addition to their attempts to isolate Azmi al-Jayousi. The situation, however, escalated, and some sources indicated that the prisoners also demanded the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, while other sources denied that and maintained that the prisoners' demands focused on improving their treatment by prison authorities (Amman Net Radio, http://www.ammannet.net, February 28).

The simultaneous nature of the prison riots, however, implies that the Salafi-Jihadist movement possesses a remarkable organizational ability. At the general level, the prison riots coincided with the news about the prisoners' mutiny in an Afghan prison; among the mutiny were members of al-Qaeda. Additionally, the Jordan prison riots also came after the escape of 23 al-Qaeda members from their prison in Yemen, and the failed second escape attempt of some al-Qaeda members—Yemeni security forces recently revealed (as-Sharq al-Awsat, March 2). This indicates the decentralization of the Salafi-Jihadist movement while, at the same time, they attempt to maintain a single trend whereby they appear like an undefeatable colossal movement.

On the local Jordanian level, the movement displayed a significant organizational ability in organizing the riots in the three prisons simultaneously, particularly since the prisons were far from each other. The riot drove the Jordanian General Security to announce the formation of a committee to investigate how mobile phones were leaked into the prisons (al-Ghad, March 2). This shows the danger inherent in the movement. Ayman al-Safadi, editor in chief of al-Ghad newspaper, described this danger in terms of two aspects: a material danger as reflected in the prison incident, and the ideological danger in terms of "those they can reach among convicts in cases not related to terrorism" (al-Ghad, March 2). Safadi's comments hold a lot of accuracy, especially that al-Zarqawi, with his criminal record and during his imprisonment, recruited men from prisoners in criminal cases (see Fouad Hussein's book "Zarqawi: Al-Qaeda's Second Generation," published as a series in al-Quds al-Arabi from May 13-30, 2005, and as a separate publication in 2005).

It can be noted that the Salafi-Jihadist movement is focusing on Jordan and that it possesses organizational abilities in a way that increases the burden shouldered by Jordanian security forces and Jordanian society, particularly because Jordan is among the countries involved in the "war against terrorism" and at the same time is targeted by terrorism.

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369919

[Petronas]

Jordan (Country threat level - 4): On 13 April 2006, Jordanian security forces reportedly stormed the Qafqafa prison, which is located approximately 30 mi/50 km north of Amman, the capital, and which holds 34 Islamist prisoners. The operation took place after prisoners took at least two police officers hostage. According to preliminary reports, security forces have surrounded the facility, and are using firearms and tear gas to subdue the prisoners. However, no further details are available and the exact number of hostages remains unknown.

A similar incident took place on 1 March when one of Jordan's prison chiefs and at least six other police officers were held hostage and then released by prisoners at Juweideh prison, which holds 180 Muslim militants, including a number of al-Qaeda members. The inmates rioted out of sympathy for two convicted al-Qaeda terrorists and also demanded the release of an Iraqi woman who was a would-be suicide bomber. The unrest raised concerns about rising sympathy for the terrorist group in Middle East prisons as well as the effectiveness of security measures in place.

http://www.airsecurity.com/hotspots/HotSpots.asp

[keith]

Jordan MPs' remand renewed over Zarqawi visit
Mon Jul 10, 11:17 AM ET



Jordan's state security court has remanded four Islamist MPs in custody for a further 15 days on incitement charges for offering condolences to the family of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's slain leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a judicial source said.

"The prosecutor has decided to remand for a second time, for 15 days, the four MPs for the investigation," the source said on Monday.

The lawmakers, all members of the Islamic Action Front, were arrested on June 12.

They were charged with incitement to violence and sedition after the families of some of the 60 civilians killed in Amman hotel suicide bombings last November claimed by Zarqawi condemned them for paying condolences to his family two days his death in a US air strike in Iraq on June 7.

On June 26 their remand was also extended for another 15 days.

Under Jordanian law, suspects can be remanded in custody for renewable 15-day periods while an investigation is in progress.

Judicial sources say that if convicted, the MPs face between six months and three years in prison and a fine of 700 dollars.




Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.


Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060710/wl_mideast_afp/jordanzarqawiislamist

[keith]

Jordan suspends board of main Islamist charity
(Reuters)

10 July 2006



AMMAN - Jordan’s prosecutor general has suspended the board running the Moslem Brotherhood’s main charity ahead of taking over control of the financial arm of the country’s largest opposition party, officials said on Monday.


The move comes after a cabinet decision last Wednesday to refer the Islamic Charity Society to the public prosecutor to start an investigation into alleged financial irregularities.

The government minister in charge of supervising private charities, Suleiman Tarawneh, told the state news agency Petra the central bank has “revoked the authorisations of the board in any financial transaction and a new temporary executive board would be appointed in the next few days to run the charity”.

A decision to close the charity would mark the toughest crackdown on the Islamist movement, the kingdom’s largest opposition group, since the government got tough over the Muslim Brotherhood’s stance against a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

The charity, which runs a wide network of welfare centres across the country with more than $1 billion worth of assets, is seen by officials as the financial arm of the Islamists.

It dispenses millions of dollars of aid to needy Jordanians that officials says is behind the influence of the Islamists.

But officials say private donations are improperly used to finance the Brotherhood’s growing political role.

Much of the Islamist’s popularity has stemmed from its provision of services funded through charities as well as its opposition to peace with Israel and a vocal criticism of government corruption.

Jordan’s close ties with the United States and its 1994 peace deal with Israel are unpopular with many in the kingdom.

The Islamist Action Front (IAF), the Brotherhood’s political arm 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.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July178.xml&section=middleeast

[Petronas]

Mother axes daughter to death in Jordan “honour killing’
30 July 2006

AMMAN - A Jordanian woman hacked her 26-year-old daughter to death in her sleep with an axe for giving birth out of wedlock, the Jordan Times reported Sunday. The 69-year-old mother and another daughter turned themselves in to police after Saturday’s killing, claiming they had acted to cleanse the “family honour”, the paper said, quoting official sources. They were charged with premeditated murder, the sources said.

The victim had been divorced for the past seven years and had given birth to a boy on the day she was murdered. Hours later “her enraged mother decided to kill her to cleanse the family honour,” one official told the newspaper. “The mother and daughter waited until the victim went to sleep, took an axe and hacked her repeatedly until they made sure she was dead,” the official said.

More than 10 women have been killed in similar “honour crimes” since January in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July718.xml&section=middleeast&col=

[Petronas]

Jordan gunman kills 1 in tourist attack
Mon Sep 4, 5:08 PM ET

A gunman opened fire on Western tourists at Roman ruins in the heart of Jordan's capital Monday, killing a British man and wounding six people before being overpowered. Police said the attacker came from the same area as the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The attack at an ancient amphitheater came despite a heavy clampdown on security in this key U.S. ally since a string of deadly bombings at hotels last November that al Qaida in Iraq claimed to have staged.

Police were trying to determine if the alleged gunman, Nabeel Ahmed Issa Jaourah, was enticed by Islamic militants or a terror group to carry out the shooting, said a Jordanian security official, who agreed to discuss the investigation only if not quoted by name.

The official said Jaourah, 38, is from Rusaifa, a village outside Zarqa, the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed June 7 when a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout in Iraq. Zaqra is an industrial town northeast of Amman that is a hub for extremist Muslims.

Preliminary investigations found no link between known terror groups and Jaourah, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who worked as a metal welder, the official said. Jaourah is believed to be an observant Muslim who once wore a beard — traditional among some conservative Muslims — but he was clean-shaven when he carried out the assault, the official added.

It was the first major terror attack in Jordan since the triple hotel bombings in the capital last November that killed 63 people, including three suicide bombers. "This is a cowardly terrorist attack, which we regret took place on Jordanian soil," said Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez. "This operation is considered a terrorist act unless the man is found to be deranged."

The gunman struck just outside the entrance to the popular amphitheater ruins in downtown Amman about 12:30 p.m., said one witness, Mohammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi.

The attacker shouted "Allahu akbar," or God is great, as he ran past the tourists, firing at them from behind. Then he turned around, facing them, and continued to shoot, the security official said. He said bystanders, including Iraqi refugees, helped two tourist police capture the assailant, who tried to flee. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/jordan_tourist_attack

[Petronas]

Jordanian: British are enemies of Islam
Nov. 22, 2006, 11:51AM

A Jordanian accused of opening fire on Western tourists in Amman's Roman amphitheater, killing a Briton and wounding six others, insisted in court Wednesday that God "blessed" him for the attack and said the British are enemies of Islam. Prosecutors say Nabeel Ahmed Issa al-Jaourah fired a pistol at Westerners visiting the historic site in September, killing British accountant Christopher Stokes. Five other tourists from Australia, Britain, the Netherlands and New Zealand were wounded, along with a Jordanian police officer.

"God blessed me when I killed a British man and hurt others, because they are fighting the Prophet and his soldiers since (the) Balfour Declaration," al-Jaourah told the military court. In the 1917 document, the British government promised to support the creation of Israel.

"The British people ... insulted the honorable Quran and women who wear the head cover," said al-Jaourah, who is a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin. He was apparently referring to comments by British House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who said in October that face-covering Muslim veils inhibit communication.

Al-Jaourah has pleaded innocent to murder charges. But after his comments, the prosecutor said he had confessed and urged the court "to hand him the harshest punishment." Al-Jaourah faces a possible sentence of death by hanging if convicted. The trial resumes in a week. ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4354134.html

[Petronas]

Jordan (Country threat level - 4): Early on 9 January 2007, an alleged militant linked to al-Qaeda was reportedly killed and another was arrested in a shootout with Jordanian security forces in the Mutlaa neighborhood in Jordan's northern city of Irbid. Several police officers were wounded. According to security sources, the shootout lasted about three hours after a unit comprised of elite police and intelligence forces raided a house and the two men resisted arrest. The sources added that the men were part of a terrorist cell that was planning to carry out attacks in the kingdom. The man who was killed -- a Jordanian of Palestinian origin -- was reportedly on the police force’s list of most-wanted al-Qaeda terrorists. Military prosecutors charged him last April with helping an al-Qaeda leader escape from jail, and he was put on trial in absentia in the military State Security Court. Last year, the court sentenced him to death for a 2004 plot to attack sites in Jordan by setting off a cloud of toxic chemicals that would have killed thousands of people. Authorities said the plot also targeted the U.S. Embassy, the prime minister's office, and various intelligence and military court officials. His accomplice in the latest incident was another Jordanian who is now in police custody.

http://www.asigroup.com/HOTSPOTS.asp

[Petronas]

Jordan court indicts 18 on terror charges
Feb. 12

Jordan's State Security Court has indicted a group of 18 people on charges of terrorism and recruiting elements to fight in Iraq and train in Lebanon. Judicial sources said Monday the charges were dropped against one group member, who was killed in a shoot-out with authorities in the northern city of Irbid last month, while two suspects were still at large.

According to the charge sheet, the suspects worked to recruit people from Jordan to join al-Qaida in Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks there, saying the defendants succeeded in enlisting a number of people in the kingdom to send to Lebanon, via Syria, for military training before going to Iraq. It said the Jordanian security authorities foiled an attempt by some of the suspects from leaving the Jordanian borders illegally to Syria in December, arrested some of them and "hunted down" the remaining members.

The defendants are accused of possessing and selling unlicensed automatic weapons "intended for illicit use" and carrying out acts that could harm Jordan's relations with another country -- in reference to neighboring Iraq.

The security forces last month raided a house in Irbid, killing one suspect and capturing another member of the alleged terrorist ring. Several police officers were injured in the shoot-out. The authorities said they seized large amounts of weapons and ammunition in the house.

The State Security Court, a military tribunal, has heard dozens of terror-related cases since 1990s, many of them allegedly involving al-Qaida and Jordanians who had returned from Afghanistan where they were fighting alongside the mujahedeen against the Soviet occupation.

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20070212-013100-5376r

[Petronas]

Jordan: Militants plotted to kill Bush
Posted 7d ago

A Jordanian military prosecutor on Wednesday revealed a previously unannounced plot by three alleged militants to assassinate President Bush during his last visit to the kingdom. The military prosecutor has charged the three Jordanians — Nidhal Musleh al-Momani, Sattam al-Zawahrah and Tharwat Daraj — with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and illegal possession of explosives. They also were planning to attack the American and Danish embassies in Amman, the prosecutor alleged.

The three were apparently unaware Denmark has no embassy in Jordan. According to the indictment sheet, they also planned to attack a Jordanian brewery in the northeastern city of Zarqa.

They were arrested on Nov. 28, one day before Bush's arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The prosecutor told the court the defendants were found with homemade bombs made by filling large plastic bottles with gasoline.

According to the prosecutor, the three met in Zarqa in October to plan their attacks. The prosecutor described them as followers of the Takfiri extremist doctrine which regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels.

The prosecutor provided no additional details about the case and it was not immediately clear how far along or how sophisticated the alleged plot against the president was. Military courts in Jordan prohibit news organizations from releasing the names of prosecutors for security reasons.

The defendants, who could face the death penalty if convicted, did not give their plea on Wednesday, but were assigned a lawyer, Abdul Jabar Abu-Gollah. He could not immediately be reached for more details. The trial was then adjourned until March 14.

Meanwhile, in a separate trial that also began on Wednesday in Amman, 13 Jordanians pleaded not guilty to plotting to join al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq. They are part of a group of 17 initially charged with planning to join the insurgents in Iraq and also with possession of weapons. Four suspects from the group who remain at large are being tried in absentia. An eighteenth suspect who was also part of the group was killed in a police raid in January and charges against him were dropped. That raid let to the arrest of one of the 13 suspects but it was not clear when or where the others were detained. The trial of the group was adjourned until March 21.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-jordan-plot_N.htm

[Petronas]

Jordan releases leading al-Qaida mentor
3:45 a.m. PT, Wed., March. 12, 2008

Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released Jordanian Sheik Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al-Qaida mentor, after several years imprisonment without trial, security sources said.

They said Maqdisi, who was regarded as the spiritual mentor of slain al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been in solitary confinement since he was rearrested in July 2005 following his acquittal at a trial of al-Qaida sympathizers.

“He was released,” said one security source without elaborating on the circumstances of the release of Maqdisi.

The militant Jihadi shared a cell block with al-Zarqawi for four years between 1995 and 1999. Both were freed in an amnesty. Zarqawi later went to Afghanistan then Iraq.

U.S. intelligence officials say Maqdisi is a major Jihadi mentor who wields more influence over Islamist ideology than leading militants such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

A study by a private think tank of the U.S. military academy West Point in 2006 described Maqdisi, a self-taught religious intellectual, as the most influential living Islamist mentor.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com:80/id/23588745/