Tag Archives: jordan

Security forces arrested influential al Qaeda-linked cleric Abu Mohammad al Maqdisi on Oct. 27, on charges of using the Internet to incite terrorism. Former Prime Minister Marouf al Bakhit recently estimated that up to 4,000 Jordanians are active in the Islamic State. Some 20 Jordanian clerics are said to have taken leadership positions in the […]

King Abdullah II reiterated Jordan’s support for the international coalition against terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Forty Salafists jailed on charges related to Syria threatened a hunger strike in protest against prison conditions. The trials of eight Jordanians suspected of membership in the Islamic State are set to begin on Oct. 13. Police arrested […]

Authorities have arrested 100 Islamic State members suspected of plotting attacks on “critical facilities,” and security is being stepped up along the border with Syria. Abdul Shehadeh Tahawi, the leader of Jordan’s Salafi jihadists who is currently imprisoned in Zarqa, called the international coalition against the Islamic State a “satanic” invasion against Muslim “civilians, women […]

Jordan, along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, joined in US-led airstrikes on the Islamic State in northern Syria. The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood condemned Jordan’s participation in the fight against the Islamic State. The Secretary General of the Arab Federation for Combating Counterfeiting and Forgery warned that Islamic State members have acquired forged passports from […]

Security forces have arrested a number of suspected Islamic State members who are thought to have been planning terrorist attacks in Jordan; they have admitted to links with IS commanders in Syria. So far 11 of the suspects have been charged, and investigations are ongoing. Senior Muslim Brotherhood official Mohamed Saeed Bakri was arrested last […]

SWAT teams raided a house in Jabal Jofeh in east Amman, arresting six Salafists suspected of recruiting and fundraising for the Islamic State ; they had been under surveillance for a month. Over the past two months, 80 suspected IS members have been arrested in Jordan. Mohammad Shalabi a.k.a. Abu Sayyaf, leader of Jordan’s Salafists, […]

A judge has postponed sentencing in the terrorism trial of al Qaeda-linked cleric Abu Qatada a.k.a. Omar Mahmoud Othman until Sept. 24. Qatada has continued to denounce the Islamic State, saying its caliphate is a “bubble that will soon burst.” A government spokesman recently claimed that Jordan’s borders are secured from terrorists and smuggling, and […]

The Parliament has amended the Constitution to allow the monarchy to appoint the top military and intelligence officials. Jordan has agreed to shelter about 1,000 Iraqi Christian refugees for one year until they are resettled to Western countries; their transport and sustenance is being paid for by a Catholic NGO.

Militant Salafist leader Mohammad Shalabi, who has urged Islamists to fight in Syria and indicated his support for the Islamic State as well as other groups, said his followers will not take action in Jordan unless “we felt … that injustice is going to befall us or that the circle of injustice is expanding.” A […]