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!" |