Jordanians spend months attempting to return after serving prison terms in Israel

AMMAN — Two Jordanian prisoners who had been released from Israeli jails have arrived in the Kingdom after occupation forces denied them exit several times.

Mohammad Tahir said he arrived in Jordan on March 8, although he was released on September 21, spending these six months trying to cross the border, because the Shabak, the Israel Security Agency, refused to let him out twice.

“I was arrested on September 2, 2012 on the Israeli side of the King Hussein Bridge, while trying to visit Nablus to attend a relative’s wedding,” Tahir told The Jordan Times over the phone on Monday.

He hired a lawyer to sue the Shabak in the Israeli high court of justice for not allowing him to travel back to Jordan, and won the case, with him writing a pledge not to return to Israel for three years.

The Kuwait-born 28-year-old said he was deemed a “potential threat to Israel’s security”, since he had been active on social media in support of Palestine while studying in Jordan, adding that his accounts might have been monitored by Israeli authorities.

“I spent 26 months in prison and had to pay a fine of 3,000 shekels [around JD536],” Tahir said, adding that on the first day of detention he suffered high blood pressure that required regular treatment.

He had been married for only two months when Israeli forces arrested him.

According to a statement from Fedaa, the media team which supports Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Tahir spent his imprisonment in the Megiddo, Shata, Rimon and Naqab detention centres.

The second released prisoner, Ayman Adam, arrived in Jordan on March 13 after serving a 38-month prison term between July 27, 2011 and August 3, 2014, and paying a fine of 20,000 shekels (around JD3,575).

Adam, 43, told The Jordan Times that Israeli forces arrested him on the King Hussein Bridge while he was returning to Amman after visiting his relatives in Hebron.

“There were no clear charges against me, but Israelis charged me with terrorist-related acts,” he said, adding that he was questioned for around 45 days after his detention.

The father of four, who managed to obtain a diploma in psychology while in prison, said he tried to come back to Jordan twice after his release, but was only allowed exit on the third try.