Jordanian writer fatally shot
Facebook post drew charges including insulting Islam.
AMMAN, JORDAN — A Jordanian writer and columnist was fatally shot on Sunday morning outside a court here, according to a statement released by the official Petra news agency.
The writer, Nahed Hattar, 56, was shot three times, and a suspect was arrested near the scene, according to Petra. Hattar, a Christian, was arrested in August and charged with inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam after sharing a cartoon on Facebook that showed a bearded man in bed with two women ordering God to bring him some wine and cashews.
H i s p o s t w a s w i d e l y denounced on social media, and he removed it shortly after. He deactivated his Facebook account and released an apology that said he “did not mean to offend anyone.” The apology, using another name for the Islamic State, also said the cartoon “mocks ISIS terrorists and their concept of heaven.” He was released on bail earlier this month.
He had gone to the court for the trial when he was shot.
A government spokesman, Mohammad Momani, said in a statement on Sunday, “We will hold the perpetrator who committed this despicable act to justice, and the government will respond with an iron fist to anyone who uses this incident as an opportunity to spread hate speech in society.”
Hattar’s younger brother Majed, 51, was with him when he was attacked and still had blood on his clothes and shoes. Majed Hattar said he had chased the gunman and caught him by holding his beard.
According to cousin Saif Hattar, 48, “This happened d e s p i t e t h e gove r n ment knowing that Nahed i s a prominent person, that he received hundreds of death threats.”
“We will not accept the body of t he mart y r, a nd there will be no funerals until we claim our rights. It’s very wrong what happened today,” the cousin said.
“Nahed apologized about the cartoon,” he added. “It was mi s u n d e r s t o o d . We believe the ISIS poisonous mentalit y were the cause of this, but the government failed to protect him.”