Death penalty to Raed Hijazi in Jordan

The Jordanian judicial authorities on Monday convicted the Islamist Raed Hijazi who carries the American nationality under the charge of targeting American and Israeli interests in Jordan and sentenced him to death in a case which raised criticism to the security authorities in Jordan in its attempt to please the US and to show the Jordanian regime's partnership in the war against "terrorism."

The Jordanian security court announced that Hijazi ( 33 year old) who was born in California was convicted of having weapons, explosives and planning attacks against Americans and Israelis in Jordan during the celebrations of the new millennium and decided to sentence him to death in the first verdict to be taken of its kind against an Islamist in Jordan since September 11.

When Hijazi heard the sentence he screamed:" the Jews do not sentence to deathÉ You are worse than the Jews. You are worse than Sharon. He kills the Palestinians in Palestine and you kill Muslims here."

Moreover Muhammad Hijazi, the father of the convict, accused the Jordanian authorities of seeking to "please Israel and to protect it" as well as "to get money from the US under the pretext of resisting terrorism." He said " They want to please the Israelis and the Americans at the expense of my son."