Jordan broadens anti-ISIS laws as domestic extremism grows
AMMAN, Jordan — Two dozen men charged with supporting the Islamic State group squeezed into a cage in Jordan’s state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they filed back out, and guards ushered in the next group of accused militants.
The court’s heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group.
Hundreds have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about links to ISIS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group’s propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence.
Some say the crowded courtrooms — along with recent attacks — signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with homegrown extremism than it has acknowledged in public.
“We have an extending of the network of IS in Jordan,” not just among the poor but also the middle class, said Mohammed Abu Rumman, an expert on extremists. “It is a minority, but it is very dangerous.” 3 decades of extremism
The extremists underscored their reach last week when they launched a suicide attack from Syria, detonating a car bomb near a Jordanian border post and killing seven soldiers in the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years.
The Islamic State group’s 2014 capture of large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq sent jitters through Jordan. The U.S. spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders, and Jordan joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS military coalition.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said that extremism is a global problem and that “Jordan is at a level just like any other societies in the world.”
For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan, a key ally, would be of great concern. This would include rising support for jihadi Salafism, the violent version of Sunni Islam that underpins ISIS and its precursor, al-Qaida.
U.S.-based analyst David Schenker said that while measuring jihadi activity is difficult, the recent uptick “points to a threat that is not insignificant.”
Abu Rumman estimated that more than 10,000 jihadi Salafists are in Jordan, most loyal to ISIS, and that about 2,000 are fighting in the ranks of ISIS and alQaida in Syria and Iraq.
Jordan’s domestic jihadi Salafi movement goes back almost three decades when Jordanians returning from Afghanistan spread the extremist message at home. Jordan’s movement produced a spiritual leader of al-Qaida, Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, and the network’s first chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed by the U.S. in 2006.
Over the years, jihadi recruitment has been fueled by high unemployment, restrictions on political expression and the perception that the world stands by as Sunnis are being slaughtered in Syria’s civil war and the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq. Discontent rising
Jordan defends its antiISIS strategy, saying it is part of a counter-radicalization program involving 13 government agencies. Critics say the focus on jailing ISIS sympathizers is counterproductive.
A survey among Jordanians, published last week by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, found a sharp rise in discontent with Jordan’s economy and political institutions. The poll also showed that 89 percent of Jordanians consider ISIS a terrorist organization, while 4 percent disagree and 7 percent are not sure — the same as in 2015.
As jihadi Salafism spreads, Jordan will have to adapt, Schenker said.
“Ultimately, you are going to have more Salafists, and the king can’t lock them all up,” he said.