Jordanian authorities deny preventing chairman of Hamas Mishal from travel

The Jordanian weekly al-Sabil has reported that Jordanian security authorities on the Jordanian - Syrian borders prevented on Saturday the chairman of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Khaled Mishal, from leaving Jordan after being stopped for more than one hour and treated improperly.

The paper added that the Jordanian authorities threatened not to permit Mishal to come back to Jordan in case he left for Damascus. The paper added that Mishal was heading to Damascus to take part in the meetings of the Palestinian forces alliances to have discussions on Wye Plantation agreement.

The paper added that the Jordanian security also opposed the travel of the Hamas movement member of the political bureau Muhammad Nazzal and its representative in Jordan to take part in the TV program "The Opposite Direction," scheduled to have been screened on Tuesday by the al-Jazira space satellite station in Qatar.

The program's session was under the title "security agreements in Wye Plantation."

Meanwhile, Jordanian Information Minister Nasser Joudeh said that the chairman of the political bureau of the Hamas movement in Amman, Khaled Mishal himself, decided to come back to Amman and not to travel to Damascus after he had refused to undergo ordinary travel procedures.

In a statement to the Jordanian daily "al-Arab al-Youm" issued on Tuesday, Joudeh added that Mishal is not prevented from travel and he "can leave for whereever he likes and at any time, but only under the condition that his travel should be as an ordinary citizen who undergoes border measures."

The Jordanian minister added that he knows nothing about preventing Mishal from traveling to the state of Qatar to take part in a hearing organized by al-Jazira TV satellite station.