Maan is calm: al-Ayan accuses Iraq of inciting riots
Jordan-Iraq, Local, 2/24/1998

"A medical report issued following an autopsy showed that the kind of the bullet that killed a Maani resident during the recent pre-Saddam Hussein protests was not used by the military troops or security men," Jordan's King Hussein stated.

King Hussein said that Maan is calm and said he hoped this would mark the end of the painful incidents that took place in the area in the past few days.

The report issued earlier said that the man was murdered by one bullet hit in the back.

Lieutenant Colonel Military Judge Muhammed Ubetat, Deputy of the Military Attorney General decided to detain chief of Engineers Union Leith Shbeilat for 15 days. Shbeilat was accused of causing public disorder in the southern city of Maan.

The attorney general started preparation for the bill of indictment against the detainee to be presented at a court in front of the prosecuting authority of the State Security Court.

Shbeilat has hired three attorneys to defend him during court procedures.

Shbeilat was jailed twice before. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail for plotting to topple the regime in Sep. 1992. Two moths later he was freed under a pardon by the King.

In 1995, he was also arrested. He was sentenced to 3 years in jail in March 1996. The King freed him in Nov. 1996 and he himself brought Shbeilat back home from custody.

Shbeilat is accused of having plotted with senior authorities in a neighboring country to disturb security and stability in Jordan. In Jan. 1998, he made a trip to Iraq where he met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who issued an amnesty for all Jordanian criminals jailed in Iraq and let them return with Shbeilat to Jordan, an act bitterly criticized by Jordan.

Meanwhile, Jordan's deputy chairman of al-Ayan council (House of Commons) and former Premier Abdul Karim al-Kabareiti has accused Iraq and its "hirelings" of being behind the recent riots in Maan.

In a statement to the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Monday, al-Kabareiti said that Jordan will not allow the Iraqi regime to fight the US at the expense of the lives of the Jordanians nor to salvage the already burnt Iraqi house/country by burning the Jordanian house. He denounced the behavior of those he named as the "puppets of the Iraqi regime" who claim to defend democracy in Amman.

Previous Stories:
  King Hussein of Jordan reacts to chaos in Maan   (2/23/1998)
  Order is restored in Maan after eruption   (2/23/1998)
  First Jordanian killed, three wounded in demonstration over Iraq   (2/20/1998)

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