AMMAN: Jordan’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal to extradite Ahlam Al-Tamimi, who was placed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorist” list, as her family urged Jordan’s government to ensure Al-Tamimi’s safety.
The court upheld a ruling issued by an appeals court, the official Petra news agency reported.
Petra, quoting a judicial source, said the extradition cannot go through because Jordan’s Parliament has never ratified an extradition agreement with the US signed in March 1995.
Al-Tamimi was blacklisted by the US in March and charged with “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death.”
The US Justice Department said Al-Tamimi, now in her mid-30s, escorted a Hamas suicide bomber to Jerusalem on Aug. 9, 2001, where he detonated a bomb, hidden inside a guitar, in a pizza shop.
The bomb killed 15, including two Americans, and wounded another 122. Al-Tamimi was arrested and put on trial, where she pleaded guilty, and was sentenced in 2003 to 16 life terms in prison.
She was released in a 2011 Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas. She faces possible execution or life in prison if she is captured, tried and convicted in the US.
Al-Tamimi’s family, in a statement received by Arab News, asked Jordan’s government to provide security and safety to their daughter and her husband Nizar as freed prisoners from Israeli prisons.
The statement said the judiciary “has always proven to uphold its independence, autonomy, fairness and patriotism. We have been fully confident that the court would issue its decision in favor of our daughter.”
The statement thanked individuals, civil society institutions and members of the media and Parliament for their support and solidarity in the face of “American injustice.”
Meanwhile, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood described the court’s decision as a firm stance in the face of all those who seek to affect Jordan’s sovereignty and violate the basic human rights of its citizens.
“The Muslim Brotherhood condemns and deplores the position and attitude of the US administration and its double standard, as it has remained silent and supportive of war crimes of the Zionists against the Palestinian people, but accuses the Jordanian citizen of using weapons of mass destruction,” it said in a statement.
Jordan rejects ‘most wanted’ woman’s extradition to US
Jordan rejects ‘most wanted’ woman’s extradition to US
Iran and US diverge in views on sanctions relief, senior Iranian official to Reuters
- Renewed talks scheduled in early March and could possibly lead to an interim deal
DUBAI: Iran and the United States have differing views over the scope and mechanism to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, adding that new talks were planned in early March. The official said Tehran could seriously consider a combination of exporting part of its highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile, diluting the purity of its HEU and a regional consortium for enriching uranium, but in return Iran’s right to “peacful nuclear enrichment” must be recognized.
“The negotiations continue and the possibility of reaching an interim agreement exists,” the official said. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days following nuclear talks with the United States this week, while US President Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.
The senior official said Tehran will not hand over control of its oil and mineral resources but US companies can always participate as contractors in Iran’s oil and gas fields.
