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AMMAN — The State Security Court on Tuesday started the trial of a suspect charged with allegedly manufacturing explosives to carry out terrorist attacks, after he failed to join Daesh.

The suspect, who has been detained pending investigation since November, denied charges of manufacturing explosives with the intent of using them for terror purposes, possession of firearms with the aim of using them in terror attacks, and promoting terrorist groups ideologies, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

According to the charge sheet, the suspect started reading news about Daesh since the group's establishment, and later became a supporter and sympathiser of the terror group. 

He later started promoting the extremist group through administrating an online chat room that specialises in publishing Daesh news and attracting more supporters.

According to the charge sheet, the suspect wanted to join Daesh in Syria, and started contacting members who told him to travel to Turkey before reaching Syria through infiltration. However, the suspect could not travel at that time, due to fears of getting arrested.

The suspect had the intention of carrying out attacks against security apparatuses in Jordan, the charge sheet stated, adding that he started watching online videos on how to manufacture explosives with items available in the local market.

To this end, he bought a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition and trained on how to dismantle and rebuild the weapon, in addition to training himself how to shoot. 

In September, the suspect left his home in Karak to Maan, in possession of weapons and ammunition, to meet other supporters of Daesh and stayed with them during clashes with security personnel, the charge sheet said. 

He bought oxygen with the intention to mix it with other materials to produce explosives, but was arrested before executing the plot, according to Petra. 

AMMAN —  The Labour Ministry, the Amman Greater Municipality, Merchant Union of Vegetables and Fruits Export and Employment-Technical and Vocational Education Training Fund on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement to manage and implement the national programme for empowerment and employment in the agricultural sector, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The agreement aims to mechanise the work in the central market using machinery and equipment such as carts, forklifts and small transport vehicles by trained Jordanian labour.

It also seeks to provide job opportunities for Jordanians and reduce the percentage of expatriate labour in the central market by 25 per cent annually.

AMMAN – The Criminal Court sentenced a 56-year-old woman to death after convicting her of murdering her husband in one of the Kingdom’s governorates in October 2014.

The court acquitted the victim’s 30-year-old brother, who was detained for the same case pending trial for three years in prison, due to lack of evidence, his lawyer Riad Qaisy said.

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing her husband to death with a switchblade on October 12 and handed her the maximum punishment.

The couple had been wed for 15 years and had a 10-year-old daughter at the time of the murder, the court said.

Court papers said the victim had suspicions that his wife was engaged in “an affair with his brother, the other defendant, and was abusing her about it”.

“The victim’s wife planned to murder her husband almost three months before the incident in order to get him out of the way. She decided to kill him when he had consumed large amounts of alcohol then fell asleep,” the 24-page verdict read.

On October 12, the court maintained, the defendant waited until her husband “consumed large amounts of alcohol and slept and started stabbing him with the switchblade”.

“The defendant then covered her husband’s body with trash bags, called his family and claimed that he was missing,” the court transcripts said.

The following day, the court added, the defendant dragged her husband’s body outside the house and started screaming “that unidentified individuals dumped her husband’s body and fled”.

However, investigators “did not believe her story and, after further investigation, the defendant confessed and ushered the police to the switchblade that she used then got rid of in a nearby dumpster,” according to court papers.

Lawyer Qaisi told The Jordan Times that the verdict was fair to his client, but expressed his discontent “regarding the three years during which his client was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit”.

“My client was wrongfully charged and kept in prison for three years, which is the duration of trial and investigations. Who will compensate him for the three years he lost behind bars?” Qaisi said.

The verdicts, handed down by judges Mohammad Baloush, Ammar Kloub and Tareq Shakhanbeh, will automatically be reviewed by the court of cassation within the next 30 days.

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) has thwarted an alleged attempt to smuggle 6.2 million narcotic pills through the Durra border crossing, and arrested the main suspect involved, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Public Security Department (PSD) said that the AND personnel had been following up for weeks on information received about a suspected drug smuggling attempt to a neighbouring country.

The AND was able to identify two suspects through monitoring their movements and identified the modus operandi of hiding pills in "hardly accessible" parts of a vehicle, according to the PSD. On the day of the alleged attempt, security forces arrested the suspect while he was attempting to cross the border. The search for the second suspect is ongoing

AMMAN — Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Chief Commissioner Nasser Shraideh said that His Majesty King Abdullah praised the authority’s achievements and its strategy to enhance economy, tourism and trade during his recent visit to Aqaba, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Shraideh said that the authority has policies, programmes and projects that enable it to achieve the strategy which will extend until 2025. 

The strategy, which is based along three main pillars which are investment, tourism and trade, seeks to attract new investments worth $10 billion. 

He stressed that
ASEZA was able to achieve around $10 billion investments in a number of major projects in the port city and the same value through other investments under implementation.

Shraideh said that the authority aims to provide new job opportunities, underlining that the ASEZA created almost 1,500 job opportunities last year, and plans to offer 10,000 opportunities by 2020 and 20,000 by 2025. 

The chief commissioner said that ASEZA is focusing on attracting more investments to create an added value for the economic model of Aqaba, through the transfer of knowledge and technology, opening to new foreign markets and the creation of a network of investors.

In 2017, the authority attracted 268 registered establishments with a capital estimated at JD491 million.

He pointed out that an agreement was signed with Manaseer Group for the establishment of an industrial city in the southern industrial zone on an area of 900 dunums including 14 factories and desalination plants for sea water, as well as signing an agreement with China’s Shenzhen General Chamber of Commerce and the International Industrial City of Aqaba to establish an industrial city in Qweira district.

Shraideh pointed out that the number of hotel guests in Aqaba increased by 13 per cent in 2017, reaching 640,000 visitors, compared to 567 thousand visitors in 2016, while the number of hotel rooms increased by 15 per cent, going from 4,000 in 2016 to about 4,600 rooms this year.

He added that 38 cruise ships came to the port city, with about 55,000 tourists on board.

AMMAN — The hike of sales tax on publications will negatively affect education and the publishing industry, including the publishing houses and newspapers, which are already suffering from a “continuous” decline, experts said.

Jordanian Publishers Union’s (JPU) Chairman Fathi Al Biss said that the 10 per cent tax hike is threatening to kill the industry which has been struggling for years.

Biss told The Jordan Times on Tuesday that the industry has been suffering for years due to the public’s “reluctance” towards reading and buying books, reliance on hacked e-books as well as the collapse of Arab markets due to regional turmoil, which Jordanian publishers used to rely on.

“Among Jordan’s population — around 10 million — the youth aged between 15 and 29 years old represent 30 per cent, most of whom are students. They read few extracurricular books and rely on photocopied and hacked e-books under the pretext that original books are sold at high prices,” Biss said, voicing his concern in case the new tax comes into effect.

Publications are among the items that used to be exempted from sales tax (zero and 4 per cent), a situation that has been changed to a unified rate of 10 per cent in the 2018 state budget, as part of the government’s corrective measures aimed at generating JD540 million. 

Biss called on the government to abolish the tax that would put more libraries and publishing houses at risk of closure.

Among the 750 licensed publishing houses, 371 have closed, leaving only 140 functioning, while only 218 of the 900 licensed libraries are still working, most being at risk of closure, he said.

Biss said that the 10 per cent tax hike would threaten the continuity of Amman International Book Fair, held annually by the JPU, as it would discourage local and international publishers to participate.

Meanwhile, Jordan Press Association President Rakan Saaydeh said that the tax hike would cause a financial regression of print-media institutions, which are facing a financial crisis and are already unable to meet their financial commitments. 

 “We are trying to collect data from dailies’ chief-editors to understand the effect the tax hike would generate. We will be publishing the results within a week to communicate with officials and present our stand on the issue,” Saaydeh added. 

For his part, Jordanian Teachers Syndicate Ibrahim Shabaneh considered the tax a “contradiction” with the Ministry of Education’s vision that encourages students to read through its initiatives and instructions.

Shabaneh said that the tax would create additional burdens on parents who buy educational courses for their children in order to improve their performance in certain subjects. 

Fakher Daas, coordinator of the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona) said that reading among Jordanians is already low and that such taxes would enhance the culture of not reading. 

“Imposing such a tax hike questions the importance of educational and cultural development for the government,” Daas added.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday met with King Philippe of Belgium in the first of a series of meetings planned on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, a Royal Court statement said.

Her Majesty Queen Rania and HRH Crown Prince Hussein were due to participate in the high-profile event, where His Majesty was scheduled to meet an array of influential world and business leaders, with focus on investment and trade ties. 

Discussions at the meeting with the Belgian king covered bilateral ties and ways to bolster them in economic, commercial, and investment sectors, as well as current regional and international developments, the statement said.

The two sides affirmed the strong relations between Jordan and Belgium and their keenness to advance them, while also maintaining coordination and consultations on various regional and international issues, in the service of the two countries’ mutual interests and with the aim of bolstering global peace and security.

The meeting also covered current developments in the Middle East, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem.

King Abdullah reaffirmed the importance of stepping up international efforts to push the peace process forward, arriving at a just and comprehensive peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis that should lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel.

Moreover, discussions addressed regional and international efforts to fight terrorism, in addition to the crises facing the Middle East and efforts to resolve them politically.

In another meeting on Tuesday, His Majesty and President of Guinea Alpha Condé discussed means to enhance cooperation in various areas, particularly in the economic, commercial, and military sectors.

 Discussions also covered current regional and international developments, as well as efforts to reach political solutions to regional crises.

In addition, the meeting addressed efforts to fight terrorism within a holistic strategy.

Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan attended the meetings.

AMMAN — The Kingdom will be affected on Thursday and Friday by a cold air mass accompanied by two depressions centred over Cyprus, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

During the early hours of Thursday, the depression will start affecting the country with heavy rainfall in the northern and central regions, later spreading to all parts of the Kingdom. The rain will be accompanied by lightning, thunder and hail with the likelihood of flooding, the JMD forecast said.

The Kingdom will still be under the effect of the depression on Friday when temperatures will drop 10-12 degrees below its average during this time of the year, according to an Arabia Weather statement. It added that snowfall is expected on mountainous areas 900 metres above the sea level.

The JMD said that there will also be heavy rainfall on Friday, with the chances of flooding in valleys and low altitudes areas with brisk winds.

According to Arabia Weather, the Kingdom will remain under the polar front on Friday night, which will cause a major drop in temperatures and the weather will be very cold in most regions with mercury levels expected to reach below 0ºC in some areas.

Arabia Weather warned against frost formation during the late hours of Friday. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday met with Meridiam’s CEO Thierry Déau in Davos and discussed the investment opportunities offered by Jordan’s economy.

Déau said Meridiam has invested $200 million in the Queen Alia International Airport, as well as $50 million in Jordan’s water sector, stressing that the fund seeks to increase its investments in the Kingdom.

Noting Jordan’s stability from an economic and security-related perspective, Meridiam’s CEO said the Kingdom boasts a promising investment climate, with plenty of opportunities that can be seized.

Established in 2005, Meridiam serves as an umbrella for a number of European banks and companies.

Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan and Minister of State for Investment Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh attended the meeting. 

AMMAN — The Finance Ministry on Tuesday disbursed the full cash subsidy of JD27 per each member of the families of Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army’s and security apparatuses’ personnel, along with the JD33 for beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund.

The ministry on Wednesday will continue disbursing the annual cash subsidies to other beneficiaries working at ministries and public institutions, as well as retirees and Social Security Corporation pensioners, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry called on other citizens who meet eligibility requirements to register and apply on the designated website: da3mak.jo. 

The financial compensation is part of a JD171 million social safety network fund included in the 2018 budget to offset the impact of removing the bread subsidy.