Jordan charges Israeli guard
JORDAN has charged an Israeli embassy guard with murder for shooting dead two Jordanians at the embassy compound in Amman last week, Jordan’s official news agency Petra reported yesterday.
Prosecutors charged the guard with murder and illegal possession of a firearm, chief prosecutor Akram Masaadeh told Petra.
The shooting on Sunday sparked a diplomatic crisis after Israel said that the embassy security guard who shot and killed an alleged Jordanian attacker and a bystander had acted in self-defence.
The guard, along with other embassy staff, retur ned to Israel on Monday.
The prosecutor said the guard had diplomatic and judicial immunity.
“(But) the immunity that the murderer enjoys is a mere procedural immunity that does not exempt him from standing trial before his country’s courts,” he added.
Jordan will send the findings of its investigations to Israel so that it can “try the murderer”, Masaadeh said.
On Thursday, Jordanian King Abdullah II demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the guard on trial, warning that the kingdom’s ties with Israel would be affected by its handling of the case.
Netanyahu welcomed the guard after his return to Israel and was seen in a photograph embracing him in a gesture that angered Jordanians.
Israel earlier said the guard had shot the 17-year-old Jordanian worker after the teenager stabbed him with a screwdriver.
Jordan said the teen was shot by the Israeli guard after a quarrel, but did not confirm the Israeli version of the incident.
The Jordanian worker was installing fur niture at the Israeli embassy compound. A second Jordanian bystander was wounded in the incident and later died.
The incident came amid tensions between Israel and the Muslim world over Israeli restrictions on worship at al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, in Jerusalem following a deadly attack in the compound that houses the mosque.
The Muslim religious authority which administers the site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, is funded and controlled by Jordan.
Meanwhile, the main prayer session at the al-Aqsa mosque ended more quietly yesterday than expected, with Israel setting an age limit on who could attend after two weeks of violent protests over tougher Israeli security measures implemented.
Extra police stood guard throughout the walled Old City, some wearing riot gear, some on horseback, in anticipation of mass protests.
But aside from a few hotspots where Palestinian protesters briefly clashed with Israeli officers, serious violence did not recur. – dpa and Reuters