Jordan Times
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Prosecution urges court
to convict IAF deputies
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — 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.
On Monday, the court heard from the final defence witnesses who described the
defendants as being “against extremism and dedicated to preserving national
unity.”
The witnesses, Mohammad Abdullah, director of the Islamic Hospital, and Ali
Hattar, a writer and analyst, also told the court they were not affected by the
deputies’ visit to Zarqawi’s condolence tent.
Also during the session, one of the accused, Abu Fares, provided the court with
an issue of As Sabeel weekly newspaper containing a statement by the US-based
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on June 15 criticising the government for the deputies’
detention.
“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,” read the
statement.
The government responded to HRW on June 17 by saying “such remarks were
insulting to a lot of Jordanians.”
First Lieutenant Raed Mahmoud of the Police Criminal and Evidence Department
yesterday provided the court with an official transcript of Abu Fares’ remarks
during a 20-minute interview on Al Arabiya satellite channel.
Abu Fares allegedly told Al Arabiya that Zarqawi was a martyr while the Amman
bombing victims were not.
In his six-page written statement presented to the court Sunday, Abu Fares
accused the satellite channel of running the interview out of context.
At the end of the two-hour session, defendant Abul Sukkar asked the court to
summon three additional witnesses who were at Zarqawi’s tent to testify that he
did not say anything “with or against Zarqawi.”
The court rejected his request on the basis that “he had already admitted that
he went to the condolence tent, therefore summoning these additional witnesses
to testify is unproductive.”
The trial will resume today when the court is expected to hear the defendants’
closing arguments.