MP issues apology for May incident involving officer

AMMAN — MP Fidya Dayat on Sunday issued a public apology to a police officer whom she reportedly slapped in May in Salt Governorate.

The Balqa MP was ordered detained briefly by the Salt prosecutor on May 6, following a complaint from a police officer that she allegedly slapped him while he was arresting a man.

“I would like to apologise for the misunderstanding that occurred between me and 1st Lt. Zeid Jazi, and would like to thank him and thank the Public Security Department,” MP Dayat, who is a member of the Islamist Centre Party, said in a statement that was released to the press.

The MP also thanked Prime Minster Omar Razzaz and other ministers as well as parliamentarians, who helped resolve the matter in a peaceful manner, the statement read.

The MP was driving when she spotted a police officer arresting a man and decided to interfere, her colleagues told The Jordan Times in May.

An argument ensued between “Dayat and the police officer, which ended with the MP slapping him in the face after he reportedly pushed her,” according to her colleagues.

Jerash MP Wafa Bani Mustafa, a lawyer, also told The Jordan Times at the time of the incident that Dayat reportedly “confessed to slapping the officer after he allegedly intimidated her and pushed her while attempting to discuss the matter of the arrested man”.

“Dayat dropped the charges against the police officer but she was surprised that he did not drop the charges against her,” Bani Mustafa said.