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AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) on Tuesday sentenced six defendants, part of a gang dubbed the “Kamaliyah group”, to 15 years imprisonment on charges of criminal conspiring and possession of illegal drugs and automatic weapons.

According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the SSC said the defendants have criminal records and are wanted on several charges related to arms trafficking, drug abuse and assaults on citizens.

On August 1, 2012, eight members of the gang were arrested in a raid in Kamaliyah neighbourhood in Sweileh, northwest of Amman.

One of the group members was killed and several others injured in the raid, during which the two suspects reportedly escaped with a citizen’s vehicle and had been on the run since then.

A joint team from the Jordan Armed Forces, Public Security Department and the Gendarmerie Department took part in the August 1 operation, in which over 7,000 shots were fired, according to a police statement issued at the time, which added that the group was heavily armed and the exchange of gunfire lasted for several hours.

After their arrest, police officials described the suspects as an “evil gang that intended to terrorise people”.

The group’s members were indicted by the SSC prosecutor on charges of forming an armed gang to commit criminal acts, possessing automatic weapons with illicit intent, attempted murder, possession of illegal drugs and molestation.

AMMAN — Deputies on Tuesday urged donor countries to provide “actual” support and assistance to Jordan, which is hosting around 1.5 million Syrians.

During an evening Lower House session, MP Bassam Manasir (Balqa, 1st District) said if donor countries do not come through for the Kingdom, the House should work to close the border to refugees.

Manasir said the country is facing grave challenges in the economy, security, education and healthcare due to the large number of refugees, as the international community remains silent, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

MP Assaf Shobaki (Amman, 4th District) said the Lower House is duty bound to support the state and pressure donor countries to honour their commitments towards Syrian refugees in Jordan.

The Kingdom’s open-border policy has taken its toll on citizens’ lives, Shobaki added.

Also during the evening session, Deputy Atef Qaawar (Amman, 3rd District) urged the government to secure the safe return of Jordanians in Yemen, who number around 600.

Earlier, the Lower House passed the 2015 draft amendments to the Jordan Medical Association (JMA) Law, extending the term of the syndicate’s council to three years instead of two.

The “hasty” endorsement of the draft amendments by the Legal Committee and then during Tuesday’s morning and afternoon full House sessions was received with dismay by some MPs who accused unnamed parties of exercising pressure on the panel to pass the bill.

The head of the committee, MP Mustafa Amawi, rejected the accusations, saying that the law had been at the House since September last year and that his colleagues have worked with “complete independence and under no influence from outside parties”.

The controversy centred around the panel’s amendments to Articles 1 and 27 of the law related to when the bill goes into effect and to the duration of the JMA council’s term.

Under the panel’s amendments, which were endorsed by a majority of lawmakers, the JMA Law goes into effect on the day it is published in the Official Gazette while the term of the syndicate’s council was extended to three years instead of two as in the original version.

Some MPs charged that the panel’s amendments were intentionally meant to keep the current JMA council one more year in office, assuming that the Senate would pass the law before April 24 — the date for JMA elections.

If passed by senators before April 24, the JMA elections will be cancelled automatically.

The House also decided to postpone until next Sunday the discussion of the worsening financial situation of the print media and the “deteriorating” services of the Greater Amman Municipality.

The Chamber was scheduled to hold a special session on Wednesday to discuss the financial woes of the country’s major newspapers and GAM’s services upon a request by a group of lawmakers.

The House also endorsed the 2014 Sharia Courts Law and the Arabic Language Academy Law as referred from the Senate.

AMMAN — Thousands of taxpayers have settled their overdue taxes to benefit from full exemptions on fines, which expired Tuesday, according to the Income and Sales Tax Department. 

Department Spokesperson Musa Tarawneh said tax offices across the Kingdom saw a huge turnout over the past few days as taxpayers rushed to take advantage of the exemptions, endorsed late last year. 

On December 23, the Cabinet decided to waive fines on unpaid taxes and fees if taxpayers settled their unpaid dues to the tax department, the Jordan Customs Department, municipalities, public universities and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority.

Tarawneh told The Jordan Times over the phone Tuesday that the exemptions will go down to 75 per cent as of Wednesday until the end of June. 

Between July and September, the fines will drop by 50 per cent, while the percentage will become 25 per cent between October and December.

The move is aimed at encouraging taxpayers to settle their dues and to generate more revenues to the Treasury, the official said.  

The government expects the incentives to generate between JD150 million and JD200 million in additional tax revenues. 

Official figures estimate the value of unpaid taxes owed by defaulters over the past years at JD800 million. 

Businesses and individuals are included in the government’s exemption decision. 

AMMAN — Gas prices will increase by around 4.5 per cent as of April 1, according to the monthly pricing list released by the government on Tuesday.

Based on a decision taken by the government’s pricing committee, one litre of unleaded 90-octane gasoline will be sold during April at JD0.610, up from JD0.585 last month, while one litre of 95-octane will cost JD0.775 compared with JD0.740 in March.

The prices of both diesel and kerosene will remain unchanged at JD0.455 per litre, according to a statement by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply sent to The Jordan Times.

The price of cooking gas also remains unchanged at JD8 per cylinder under the committee’s decision, the statement said.

Fuel prices, except for gas cylinders, are no longer subsidised by the government, which lifted oil subsidies in November 2012.

A government pricing committee meets monthly to adjust prices in a manner that corresponds to changes on the international market.

The committee — comprising representatives from the ministries of energy and finance, and the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company — calculates the updates based on average international oil prices during the preceding 30 days and other costs such as freight and handling.

In late March, Deputy Jamal Gammoh, head of the Lower House Energy and Mineral Resources Committee, expected fuel prices to drop between 4-6 per cent in the domestic market as of April 1.

Basing his expectations on the average price of Brent crude oil on the international market during February, the deputy told The Jordan Times at the time that the average prices for crude oil ranged from $52 to $55.

“The prices of crude oil dropped slightly in February. We expect a drop in prices in Jordan but this drop will be slight,” Gammoh said.

Prices of main oil derivatives rose by around 12 per cent as of March 1.

AMMAN — Two police officers on Monday were ordered detained by the Irbid police prosecutor on charges of beating up a motorist who failed to pull over when instructed by a patrol last week, official sources said.

The Thursday alleged beating incident was recorded by an unknown individual and the video went viral later the same day.

The two officers were part of seven police personnel who were involved in an alleged beating incident of Tareq Omari, an employee at King Abdullah I University Hospital, who failed to pull over when a police patrol ordered him to stop on an Irbid highway in the morning, a senior police source said Tuesday.

“We are currently investigating the incident and more officers could be charged based on our investigation,” the senior police official told The Jordan Times.

Jordan University of Science and Technology physics professor Ahmad Omari, who is Tareq’s uncle, said a team of lawyers is representing Tareq, a father of two children.

“Tareq was returning home at 7am from a night shift and was in a hurry because his mother was sick; he wanted to take her to the hospital and failed to pull over when instructed by a police patrol,” Ahmad said.

Tareq waved back at police “and thought that they understood that there was an emergency situation and he could not stop and looked in his mirror and noticed that they did not follow him”, according to Ahmad Omari.

“Tareq dropped a friend at Huwara town and when he returned to the highway the same police patrol pulled him over with the help of two other police vehicles,” the professor told The Jordan Times.

The uncle added that “Tareq panicked and locked the windows and doors of his vehicle but he was eventually taken out and beaten up by several police officers.”

“When he was taken to the police station they beat him up again and were cursing him and later sent him to the prosecutor on charges of resisting arrest,” Ahmad added.

But the prosecutor, according to the uncle, decided to “refer Ahmad to a hospital after noticing beating marks on him”.

The following day, Ahmad added, the victim filed a complaint against the police and later in the day “we received a call from a high-level official at the police apologising for the incident and asking us to file a complaint at the office of the police criminal prosecutor after seeing the video.”

“We were assured by high-level police officials that any police officer found guilty will be prosecuted legally, and they assured us that it was an isolated incident and that the safety and security of Jordanians remain their priority,” he said.

The uncle added that he appreciates the cooperation and reassurance by law enforcement officials that “justice will prevail for our son.”

AMMAN — Authorities on Tuesday disputed figures cited by Jordan Anti-Drugs Society (JADS) President Musa Dawood claiming that 2.4 per cent of school students in Jordan take drugs.

Education Ministry Spokesperson Walid Jallad said the figures cited by JADS are inaccurate, noting that any study conducted in public schools is reviewed by the concerned authorities, which follow up on its findings and recommendations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Citing a study by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which he said covered 2,470 students between the ages of 11 and 16 at public schools around Jordan, Dawood said 2.3 per cent of school students consume alcohol.

Jallad said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND), the ministry’s main partner in this domain, confirmed that no such study has been conducted in public schools.

The Education Ministry, he added, prepares an annual plan to protect school students from drugs and psychotropic substances in coordination with several concerned agencies, including AND.

Noting that no disciplinary council has been held to look into cases of drug or alcohol abuse by students, Jallad said the ministry reserves the right to take the proper legal measures over the erroneous report.

Public Security Department Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi also told Petra that the numbers are inaccurate, noting that the PSD is the sole authority responsible for releasing studies and figures on drug abuse.

The PSD recently warned people against buying drugs via social media or taking any medication unlicensed by the Jordan Food and Drug Administration and the Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology.

Last year, the Anti-Narcotics Department said it dealt with 7,713 cases involving illegal narcotics, including 712 cases of drug trafficking, between May 2013 and May 2014.

A total of 10,792 individuals were arrested during that period, 1,296 of them non-Jordanians.

Illegal narcotics seized during the same period comprised 664 kilogrammes of hashish, 6,719 kilos of marijuana, 2,466,918 Captagon pills, 331 kilos of cocaine, 219 kilos of heroin, 24 kilos of opium and 43,107,011 other illegal drug pills.

AMMAN — The fire that erupted on Saturday at Elba House Company was an act of arson, the Public Security Department (PSD) announced Tuesday.

A fire erupted late Saturday at the yard of the Elba House Company in Sweileh, burning 18 vehicles.

Firefighters managed to put out the blaze and prevented it from reaching nine other vehicles.

No casualties were reported and a committee was formed to determine the cause of the fire.

The PSD said in a statement that investigation proved the blaze was intentionally set by a former employee of the bus-body building company in collaboration with two of his friends.

The suspect confessed to setting the buses ablaze using gasoline in collaboration with two other people, one of whom is also a former employee of Elba House.

“Two of the perpetrators are now under arrest while a search is under way for the third,” the PSD said in the statement.

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation on Tuesday urged its subscribers to commit to paying their monthly dues without delay, especially to benefit from the natural death insurance.

Subscribers must hold a social security subscription for a minimum of 24 months, including six consecutive months, to benefit from the natural death insurance, the corporation’s media director, Musa Sbeihi, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

A total of 787 natural death cases were registered among SSC subscribers, who died while still on the payroll in 2014. The cost of natural death pensions for their heirs has not been calculated as some inheritors are yet to complete official procedures, he said.

Sbeihi noted that heirs receive 50 per cent of the average value of the subscriber’s benefits for the last 12 months before death, in addition to other compensation.

Some 14,000 subscribers have benefited from the natural death insurance since the corporation’s establishment in 1978, with an overall insurance value reaching JD260 million, while funeral allowances given to their heirs stood at JD4.4 million, according to the SSC official.

The SSC’s monthly allocations for natural death insurance stand at JD2.5 million out of the total retirement allowances, he said.

Sbeihi urged subscribers to pay their dues without delay to avoid the suspension of their subscriptions, as paying after delay does not compensate for the previously unpaid durations and does not allow subscribers to benefit from natural death or workplace injury insurances if they are not committed to regular payment.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, visited the army headquarters on Tuesday.

The King was received by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Gen. Mashal Al Zaben and several army commanders.

His Majesty held a brief meeting with Zaben and discussed army-related issues.

He expressed his pride in the army and commended the distinguished level of its personnel.

AMMAN — The King’s adviser for military affairs, Gen. Mashal Al Zaben, on Monday attended the opening session of the Joint Jordan-US Military Committee’s 37th meeting in Amman.

The three-day meeting provides a platform for discussing cooperation between the Jordanian and US armies and ways to develop them at all levels.

Zaben, who also serves as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, met with US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence International Security Affairs Elissa Slotkin in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Feisal and Princess Aisha, who is the defence attaché at Jordan’s embassy in Washington.