Tag: Jordan

Jordan’s King Abdullah has sacked Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit, a conservative former army general and asked Awn Khaswaneh, an international jurist, to head a...

Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Danny Navon was returning to Israel on Thursday with his staff, fearing a large demonstration outside the embassy in Amman...

Pakistan’s ladies champion Ushna Suhail lost in the singles quarter-final but reached the doubles semi-final of the Jordan International Tennis Tournament being in Amman....

Jordanian youths on Monday attacked King Abdullah II’s motorcade with stones as he visited the southern city of Tafileh, a security official said, but...

Rich Gulf Arab dynasties have reacted to upheaval in the Arab world by inviting fellow monarchies Jordan and Morocco to join their club as...

AMMAN - The brother of a Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan in 2009 has been arrested, their mother said Tuesday, after police clashed wtih Salafist protesters. "Security forces arrested my son Ayman Balawi, 36, Friday midnight when he was home, although he did not take part in Zarqa's demonstration that day," Shennara Awwad told AFP. More than 90 people, most of them policemen, were hurt on Friday when protesters from the ultra-conservative Sunni

AMMAN - Jordanian security forces have arrested 70 Islamists after violent protests in which many people were hurt, most of them policemen, a security official told AFP on Saturday. The suspects, members of the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim Salafist movement, were rounded up during raids Friday in the town of Zarqa and nearby Rassifeh, hours after Islamist protesters attacked police, the official said. Initially 120 people were detained but 50 of them were later let go while 70 were

COPENHAGEN - Danish artist Kurt Westergaard, known for his controversial caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) , said Friday that he had not been informed of a trial against him in Jordan and said that he would in any case not attend.
"I have not heard about this trial and have not been informed," the 75-year-old cartoonist told AFP when asked about upcoming court proceedings in Amman.
Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in

AMMAN - Bloody clashes in Jordan have exacerbated the confidence crisis between the government and Islamists, accused of taking orders from northern neighbour Syria, which is itself facing popular protests. The Islamist opposition and the government locked horns after a protester died and 160 people were injured on Friday when police broke up a pro-reform protest camp in Amman following a stone attack by loyalists against young demonstrators.The rift between the government and

AMMAN - Jordan's Islamist opposition, leftists and trade unions on Saturday demanded the ouster of Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit, who they blame for violence that has killed one person and injured 130.
"The Islamist movement demands the resignation, or the sacking, of the government and the formation a national unity and reformist government that would win the people's trust and protect their lives,"
Hamzah Mansur, chief of the powerful Islamic Action Front (IAF), said. "Any

AMMAN - Jordanian students on Friday vowed to press on with their pro-reform sit-in protest, undeterred by stone attacks blamed on government supporters, as thousands expressed allegiance to King Abdullah II.
"They are trying to push us to leave," Saddam Basrawi, a 21-year-old university student, told AFP."Last night, they attacked us with stones, but we will endure and we will not budge no matter what happens."Around 500 youths from different movements, including the powerful

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that Israeli troops would remain on the border between Jordan and the West Bank under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Speaking to reporters as he toured Israeli military facilities along the Jordan river, Netanyahu said only Israeli troops would be able stop militants and rockets from infiltrating into the West Bank.
"Our security border is here on the Jordan and our defence line begins here. If

AMMAN - Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated on Friday in Amman to demand "regime reforms", a day after Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit rejected calls for a constitutional monarchy. "The people want regime reform. Reform is a popular demand. We want a new electoral law," the protesters, including Islamists, trade unionists and leftists, chanted in the city centre after midday prayers.
Holding national flags, the demonstrators, estimated by Islamist leaders at 10,000 and by police at

AMMAN - Jordan is expected to remove restrictions on public gatherings, allowing protests to take place without prior permission as part of political reforms, a minister said in remarks published on Tuesday. Interior Minister Saad Hayel Srur asked the cabinet on Monday to amend the public assembly law and scrap an article that requires in-advance government permission to hold rallies and protests, the state-run Petra news agency said.
"Instead, organisers of such activities have

AMMAN - Popular discontent took a new turn with unprecedented public criticism of King Abdullah II's wife, Queen Rania, who stands accused of "corruption" by large tribes, the bedrock of Jordan's regime.
"We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family (of the queen). The land belongs to the Jordanian people," 36 tribal leaders said this week in a joint statement. By so doing, they have broken a taboo in the desert kingdom, where criticism

DOHA - Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov set the scene for his team's Asian Cup quarter-final with Jordan on Friday by calling them dangerous, but lucky. The Uzbeks have been impressive in reaching the last eight, beating hosts Qatar 2-0, overcoming Kuwait 2-1 and drawing 2-2 with China as they seek to make the semi-finals for the first time.
Jordan also held their own, drawing with three-time champions Japan, then beating Saudi Arabia and Syria as they too look for a maiden last

DOHA - Japan routed Saudi Arabia 5-0 on Monday to set up an Asian Cup quarter-final clash with hosts Qatar, while Jordan joined them in the last eight by coming from behind to defeat neighbours Syria 2-1.
A hat-trick from striker Shinji Okazaki was the centrepiece of a comfortable Japan victory that consigned traditional powerhouses Saudi Arabia to one of the most abject and humiliating defeats in their history. "I'm very satisfied with today's result. We've cleared the first