Court approves bail for Qourshah — lawyer

AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) on Tuesday agreed to release Muslim scholar Amjad Qourshah on bail, according to his defence team. 

“Dr. Amjad Qourshah will be out in a couple of hours,” his lawyer, Mahmoud Dqour, told The Jordan Times during the day, noting that the next step for his defence team would be to “announce his innocence”.

The SSC had previously rejected two requests for bail for the preacher.  

Qourshah, a professor of Sharia (Islamic law) at the University of Jordan and a former TV show host, was detained on June 13, reportedly over a 2014 video in which he criticised Jordan’s participation in the war against Daesh.

The prosecutor had ordered the preacher’s detention on charges of harming Jordan’s ties with a friendly state.

Qourshah, a UK graduate of inter-religious studies, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which also included “putting the security of the Kingdom at risk of hostile acts”.