Jordan Times
Thursday, July 7, 2005
'Jordan Determined to Send Envoy'
By Ahmad Barakat
AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher on Wednesday said Jordan was determined to name an ambassador to Iraq despite the wave of attacks targeting diplomats in the neighbouring country.
“Attacks targeting diplomats will not prevent us
from appointing an ambassador to Iraq,” Muasher, also government spokesperson,
told reporters.
Muasher said the government was “in the final stage of appointing an ambassador
and making necessary arrangements for the security of the embassy in Baghdad and
its personnel.”
Iraq and the United States sought to prevent an exodus of diplomats from Baghdad
on Wednesday after an ambush prompted Pakistan to pull out its ambassador,
Bahrain's envoy was shot and Egypt's was kidnapped, Reuters reported.
In August 2003, a bomb attack targeted Jordan's embassy in Baghdad, killing 11.
Zarqawi's ex-mentor
In another development, Muasher said authorities arrested the former mentor of
Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, a week after releasing him from
jail, for making contact with “terrorist” groups.
Sources close to Issam Barqawi, well-known as Abu Mohammed Maqdissi, earlier
told Agence France-Presse that he had been arrested at midnight Tuesday as Al
Jazeera satellite channel aired an interview with him it had conducted earlier
in the day.
“Following his release, authorities received information that he contacted
terrorist groups outside Jordan,” Muasher said.
Maqdissi was released from custody last week, six months after being acquitted
for lack of evidence of plotting attacks against the US embassy and other
targets in the Kingdom.
Extradition of Smadi
Meanwhile, Muasher said Jordan will officially ask Syria to extradite fugitives
arrested in the neighbouring country in a clash with security forces.
He added that officials will travel to Syria to follow up on extradition of
Sharif Smadi and the wife of his brother, Mohammad, who is on the run. They are
wanted for involvement in 138 criminal cases, Muasher said.
The two were arrested in a dawn clash on Mount Qassioun overlooking Damascus on
Monday.
On Wednesday, Agence France-Presse quoted Syria's official SANA news agency as
reporting that security forces arrested Jordanian Mohammad Smadi and a wanted
woman, Rihab Shehap, both were members of the group involved in the deadly
clash.
The Smadi arrested on Wednesday does not appear to be the same individual as the
fugitive brother, according to AFP.