Protesters picket Parliament over MP’s tweets

AMMAN — Several Jordanians gathered outside Parliament in the capital’s Abdali neighbourhood on Tuesday to protest against tweets by Deputy Tarek Khoury.

Participants waved Jordanian flags and held banners with slogans calling for lifting the MP’s immunity.

In tweets following His Majesty King Abdullah’s televised address to the nation last week, Khoury used the slogan raised by the King, “be proud,” as a hashtag in Arabic and commented on several controversial issues related to the country’s dealings with Israel.

Mohammad Anazi, a protester, charged that the deputy “mocked Jordanian society in the tweets, and took advantage of his position and immunity to mock the King’s speech”.

“We will also file a lawsuit against him,” Anazi told The Jordan Times.

But Khoury has said that his remarks did not conflict with the King’s address.

“His Majesty did not tell us to be silent; on the contrary, he called in his speech for fighting darkness and dark ideologies,” the MP wrote on his Facebook page.

Those who attack people’s freedom of speech and use hate speech are the ones who are at odds with what the King said, Khoury added, noting that His Majesty said members of society should stand in solidarity as one family.

Another protester said they want to have the deputy’s immunity lifted so that he can be charged in court.

“We believe in our judicial system that will take a fair decision on this issue,” he added, preferring anonymity.

“Yesterday’s post by Khoury on Facebook will contribute to calming down the situation, but he posted this comment because of the great pressure he came under over the tweets.”

Hani Odwan, another demonstrator, said he joined the protest because he wanted to “send a message against sectarianism and racism”, which he claimed were evident in Khoury’s posts.

“His tweets also stoked sedition among the Jordanian community. We sensed a tone of regional bigotry and we care about Jordanian unity,” Odwan charged.

Khoury was not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to contact him.