Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Jordan MPs in Hot Water for Zarqawi Condolences | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat- Four Jordanian Members of Parliament are being condemned by other MPs and from families of terror victims after paying condolences to the family of the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

Al Zarqawi, born Ahmed Fadhil al Khalayleh, was the head of al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers (IRAQ) was sentenced by the Jordanian government to death in absentia.

Relatives of terror victims condemned the four MPs, who belong to the Islamic Labor Front, the political wing of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. Critics said the visit offended the feelings of families of victims.

MPs have been holding talks over the last few days about the possibility of banishing the four Islamist representatives from parliament.

Three of the MPs, ‘Ali Abu al-Sukar, Ibrahim Al-Mashoukhi and Jafar Al-Hourani, represent the Islamic Labor Front in Zarqa, A-Zarqawi’s hometown. Abu A-Sukkar justified the move as a social and religious obligation. He explained they visited the mourning family as representatives of the district and not as party representatives.

The fourth MP was Muhammad Abu Faris, who represents the party in the ‘Suweilah district.

The lawmakers say they are helping the family retrieve the body of A-Zarqawi for burial.

The Amman bombings sparked widespread outrage among Jordanians who had been sympathetic to insurgents battling the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi, who masterminded some of the bloodiest suicide bombings in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air strike Wednesday.