Jordan to take Israel embassy case to court

AMMAN — The government on Wednesday tasked Justice Minister Awad Abu Jarad to follow up on the Israeli embassy case as part of a motion to “achieve criminal justice”, after an Israeli staffer killed two Jordanians and was allowed to leave home as he was accredited as a diplomat and thus enjoyed immunity.

One day after killing Mohammad Jawawdeh, a 16-year-old carpenter, and Bashar Hamarneh, a doctor and the landlord, during an argument with the young man at a residential building rented by the Israeli embassy in Amman, the killer, who shot both, left Jordan to Israel. There he was received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the footage of the encounter triggered public anger among social media users in Jordan.

During a Cabinet meeting yesterday,  the government also formed a team comprising Abu Jarad, State Minister for Legal Affairs Bisher Khasawneh and a legal representative of the Foreign Ministry to “recommend a plan for well-planned legal action at all levels, including internationally if necessary, and to be prepared for the stage that follows the prosecution’s completion of the investigation, the trial and the verdict”. 

Safadi briefed the Council of Ministers on the latest development in the case, outlining the measures taken to serve justice and safeguard the rights of Jordanians, “in accordance with the international law, which provides legal tools to… ensure criminal justice”. 

In a CNN interview the day before, Safadi said: “Jordan acted legally and morally [by complying to international laws on diplomatic missions]. It is upon Israel to do the same and allow for justice to take its course and to stop provocative behaviours that distort the facts here”.

“We respected our obligations under international law because the suspect enjoys diplomatic immunity. We agreed with his statement, which we did and we agreed with the Israelis that he goes back. So Jordan did what it had to do under international law and now  it is incumbent upon Israel to also do what it has to do under the law, which is to allow for the criminal justice to take its course and also to act morally and allow for justice to happen.”

He reiterated similar remarks during a Sky News Arabic interview on Wednesday.

He criticised the Israeli  reaction to the embassy case, as the killer was depicted as a liberated  prisoner and the case was manipulated for populist purposes.