By Rana Husseini

AMMAN - Criminal Prosecutor Jamal Duradi has charged two Jordanian men with raping and molesting two British women over the holiday weekend at a farm in the Jordan Valley area.

Four other men, including two who remain at large, were charged with attempted rape and attempted kidnapping of the same two women in the Jofeh area on Saturday night, Duradi told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

He declined to release the names of the alleged rapists but said they were both 19. The two other men in custody were aged 31 and 34, he added.

The incident occurred early Saturday morning when a local couple asked the two suspects to escort the women to a safe area after four men had attempted to raid their house to abduct the women, according to Duradi.

The two women, both 20, were visiting Jordan as tourists and spent the day at the Dead Sea, Duradi said.

“The two women, who are studying Arabic in Syria for one year, went to the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley area on Saturday and spent the entire day there until it became dark,” he added.

They could not find a ride back that night and then met a woman, who offered to host them for the night, Duradi said.

“Four of the six suspects, who saw the women heading to the couple’s house, went and got drunk, then returned to the house around 2:00am and tried to force their way in,” he added.

The couple locked the door but the four men kept banging on the door and trying to enter the house until 5:00am, according to the criminal prosecutor.

The woman’s brother and a friend came to the house and she asked them to take the two women back to Amman in their car, Duradi said, adding that they agreed and left the house through the back door, but on the way, they reportedly raped the women.

“The two suspects threatened the women, and then took turns raping them,” he said.

The two women eventually took a taxi back to Amman and went straight to the British embassy, according to Duradi.

British Embassy Consul Michael Snell refused to comment on the incident, when contacted by The Jordan Times yesterday, but he noted that the embassy was very pleased with the way the Jordanian police handled the case.

“The authorities did an extremely good job and we couldn’t have asked for the case to be handled any better,” Snell said.

Duradi said all four men in custody, including the two alleged rapists, confessed to their crimes and were ordered detained for 15 days pending further investigation and questioning of more witnesses.

If convicted of the charges, the two main suspects in the case could get a maximum of 22 years in prison, the official said.

Meanwhile, Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Basheer Daaja told The Jordan Times that they were unemployed and had previous criminal records.