Police investigating festive firing at election campaign headquarters

AMMAN — Alerted by videos on social media, the Public Security Department (PSD) is investigating the use of festive firing at electoral candidates’ headquarters, police said on Saturday. 

The videos show people in different areas across the Kingdom firing gunshots during the inaugurations of the campaign headquarters of some parliamentary candidates. 

The PSD said in a statement that it is working to verify the footage, its timing and locations, as well as the identities of those who are filmed holding automatic weapons and firing into the air to welcome the candidates. 

Police stressed that after verifying the clips, all those who appeared firing will be considered suspects and will be pursued.  

The PSD will take all necessary measures to deal with festive firing to curb this tradition, which is illegal and threatens people’s lives, the statement added.

The videos were posted on several social media pages and were condemned by users, who called on the government to stop the notorious habit.

Commenting on a video posted to Facebook allegedly showing festive firing in Jafer, part of the Southern Badia constituency, some users belittled the danger of the act as it took place in the desert.

Asad Abu Tayeh, a Facebook user, said his tribesmen did not shoot at people but in the air, stressing that the guns were in safe hands.

Faisal Alhanayfa Aldaja commented: “It is their traditions and social habit of expressing happiness. People should not interfere and it was all in an empty area in the desert.”

Last year, the PSD announced strict measures against those who take part in festive firing, which usually takes place to celebrate social events such as education results and weddings or elections.

The department pledged to arrest any person who owns a gun without a licence or who fires weapons for any occasion, as well as those who sell weapons and ammunition for this purpose.

The judiciary has introduced stiffer penalties over the years to curb festive shooting and started charging perpetrators with manslaughter and attempted murder under Article 326 of the Penal Code in cases when celebratory shooting has led to injuries or deaths.

Those convicted of causing an injury by festive firing face up to 10 years in prison.

Individuals convicted of causing death by festive firing could receive up to 20 years in prison, and in cases of multiple fatalities, the shooter could be sentenced to life in prison. 

In 2015, 35 people were arrested and 33 weapons were confiscated in festive firing cases, according to official figures released earlier this year.

Commenting on another video, allegedly filmed in Ramtha in north Jordan, Samer Alzoubi said: “It is an old video filmed five years ago, and the candidate appears obviously not happy about the shooting.”

Facebook user Walid Qmash wondered about the weapons that appear in the videos and questioned whether they were licensed, calling on the government to investigate the issue.