Jordan on Wednesday released from jail Issam Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, the former mentor of slain Al Qaeda front man in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for “humanitarian reasons”, a security official told reporters. “Al-Maqdessi will be handed to the Red Cross today (Wednesday), which will take him to his family in Jordan,” said the official, adding, “He went on a hunger strike last month and ended it on Sunday. He was freed for humanitarian reasons after promising to stay home and not to give any press remarks.”A Jordanian of Palestinian origin, Maqdessi, whose real name is Issam Barqawi, was arrested in Jordan in June 2005 after remarks he made to Al-Jazeera television. In 1999, he met Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who later joined his Sunni militant group. The pair were detained for five years for membership of an outlawed Islamist organisation but freed as part of a general amnesty in 1999.