Jordanian deputy complains that Syrian border authorities abused him

A Jordanian deputy accused the Syrian border authorities of abusing him in a way that does not suit a deputy in the Deputies' Council (the Jordanian parliament), a matter which led him to return to Jordan with his family.

Deputy Walid Owigan said that he left with his family to travel to Syria last week for a tourist visit, yet he was surprised by provocative and insulting questions from workers at the Dera border center.

Owigan, the deputy for the Maan area in southern Jordan which underwent riots during Iraq's crisis with the UN over weapons inspections at the beginning of the current year, added that the Syrian authorities asked him to refer to the Syrian intelligence bureau at the border center, but he refused and decided to return home.

He stated that the Syrian authorities allowed his family to cross after a while.

The deputy asked the Jordanian government to officially protest because what he was exposed at is not an individual incident "but a general abuse that could not be tolerated."