Writer slain for Islam cartoon
A PROMINENT Jordanian writer was shot dead Sunday in front of the courthouse where he had been on trial for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam.
Jordanian media identified the shooter as an imam at a local mosque, and said the man had been motivated by his anger over the cartoon posted to Facebook by writer Nahed Hattar.
The shooting was the latest in a string of deadly security lapses in Jordan. Witnesses and police said Hattar, 56, was preparing to enter the courthouse for a hearing when the gunman shot him at close range.
“He was standing at a short distance of about one meter (yard) in front of Nahed on the stairs of the Supreme Court,” a witness told The Associated Press. The official Petra News Agency said Hattar was shot three times. The witness said the shooter, who was immediately arrested, was wearing a long gray robe and long beard characteristic of conservative Muslims.
Jordanian media, citing anonymous officials, identified the shooter as Riad Abdullah, an imam in his late 40s in Hashmi, a poor neighborhood in Amman. The reports said Abdullah had recently returned from a trip abroad, but gave no further details.
The Khabirni news site said Abdullah had confessed to police that he was upset over the cartoon, which depicted a bearded man, smoking and in bed with two women, asking God to bring him wine and cashews. Hattar had shared the cartoon to mock the extremist views of ISIS.
Government spokesman Mohammad Momani condemned the killing as a “heinous crime.”