AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan executed 15 people on Saturday, including 10 convicted on terrorism charges ranging from an attack a decade ago on Western tourists to the slaying of a writer in the largest mass execution in the country’s recent history.

Government spokesman Mohammad al Momani told state media those executed included one man who was convicted of an attack last year on an intelligence compound near a Palestinian camp that killed five security personnel.

Another five were involved in an assault by security forces on a militant hideout by suspected Islamic State militants in Irbid city in the same year that led to the death of seven militants and one police officer. The rest related to separate incidents that go back as far as 2003.

It was the largest number of executions in one day in Jordan’s recent history, said a senior judicial source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.

At least one hundred detainees have been sentenced to death in recent years, many on charges related to membership of militant Islamist groups, who could face capital punishment.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement the death penalty was not a deterrence, citing a spike in militant attacks since last year.

“Whatever image of strength Jordan wishes to project, the death penalty will never deter terror attacks and murder, or make the citizens of Jordan safer,” Whitson said.

“Just the terror attacks of the last two years shows that reinstating the death penalty in Jordan has done nothing to reduce the incidents of such violent attacks.”

Several security incidents over the past year have jolted the Arab kingdom, which has been relatively unscathed by the uprisings, civil wars and Islamist militancy that have swept the Middle East since 2011.

However, Jordan is among the few Arab states that have taken part in a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants holding territory in Syria and Iraq

Human rights group Amnesty International condemned the executions by hanging, saying they had been carried out in “secrecy and without transparency.”

“The scale of today’s mass executions is shocking and it’s a big step backwards on human rights protection in Jordan,” Samah Hadid, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Beirut regional office, told Reuters.

Hadid said the death penalty was “problematic because in some cases confessions in Jordan were extracted under torture or duress”, echoing widespread complaints by human rights activists.

Amnesty said in a statement earlier: “Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent.”

Jordan in the past refrained from executing political detainees and either reduced or suspended death sentences handed to fundamentalist Islamists on terror-related charges.

International human rights activists say militants are put on trial in military courts that are unconstitutional and lack proper legal safeguards, adding that there are growing cases of mistreatment and of extracting confessions under duress.

The government denies it tortures prisoners or mistreats detainees, saying its courts abide by human rights laws.

Another judicial source said the authorities also executed a man who last year shot dead outside a court a Christian writer who was standing trial for contempt of religion after sharing on social media a caricature insulting Islam.

Also among the 10 was a gunman convicted of firing at a group of Western tourists near the Roman amphitheatre in downtown Amman in 2006, killing one Briton and injuring five other people, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The five other executions were for rape and sexual assault.

Jordan restored the death sentence by hanging in 2014 after a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014.</s>Jordan executed 15 people on Saturday, including 10 convicted on terrorism charges, government spokesman Mohammad al Momani said.

Momani said those executed included one man who was convicted of an attack last year on an intelligence compound that killed five security personnel.

Another five were involved in an assault by security forces on a militant hideout in Irbid city in the same year that led to the death of seven militants and one police officer, while the rest related to separate incidents that go back as far as 2003.

The five other executions were for rape and sexual assault.

Jordan restored the death sentence by hanging in 2014 after a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014.</s>AMMAN, March 4 (Reuters) - Jordan executed 15 people on Saturday including 10 convicted on terrorism charges ranging from an attack a decade ago on Western tourists to the slaying of a writer, a judicial source and the government spokesman Mohammad al Momani said on Saturday.

Al Momani said those executed included one man who was convicted of an attack last year on an intelligence compound that killed five security personnel.

Another five were involved in an assault by security forces on a militant hideout in Irbid city in the same year that led to the death of seven militants and one police officer, while the rest related to separate incidents that go back as far as 2003.

It was the largest number of people executed in one day in Jordan's recent history, according to a senior judicial source.

Human rights group Amnesty International condemned the executions by hanging saying they were carried out in "secrecy and without transparency".

"The scale of today's mass executions is shocking and it's a big step backwards on human rights protection in Jordan," Samah Hadid, deputy director of Amnesty International's Beirut regional office, told Reuters.

Hadid said the death penalty was "problematic because in some cases confessions in Jordan were extracted under torture or duress", echoing widespread complaints by human rights activists.

Amnesty said in a statement earlier; "Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent."

Jordan in the past refrained from executing political detainees and either reduced or suspended death sentences handed to fundamentalist Islamists on terror-related charges.

International human rights activists say militants are put on trial in military courts that are unconstitutional and lack proper legal safeguards, adding that there are growing cases of mistreatment and of extracting confessions under duress.

The government denies it tortures prisoners or mistreats detainees, saying its courts abide by human rights laws.

A judicial source said the authorities also executed a gunman who last year shot dead outside a court a Christian writer who was standing trial for contempt of religion after sharing on social media a caricature insulting Islam.

Also among the 10 was a gunman convicted of firing at a group of Western tourists near the Roman amphitheatre in downtown Amman in 2006, killing one Briton and injuring five other people, the judicial source added.

The five other executions were for rape and sexual assault.

Jordan restored the death sentence by hanging in 2014 after a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014.</s>The prisoners, all Jordanian, were hanged at the Suaga prison near the country's capital, Amman. Jordan lifted a 2006 moratorium on the death penalty in 2014.

A government spokesman said those executed for terrorism offences had been involved in five incidents: the 2003 bombing attack on the country's embassy in Iraq, the 2006 shooting of writer and political activist Nahed Hattar in Amman, the 2006 shooting attack on tourists in Amman that killed a British man, a 2016 attack on security forces in Irbid city, and an attack on intelligence officers in the Baqaa refugee camp in the same year, according to the Petra news agency.

The five not involved in terrorism had been convicted of sexual assaults.

Jordan's King Abdullah II told a UN Security Council Summit in September 2014 that the world must enact a "zero-tolerance policy" on any country, individual or organization found to facilitate, support or foster terrorist groups.

A year ago, Daesh released a video of militants burning alive a Jordanian pilot who had been captured after his plane went down in Syria during a strike against the group. Jordan executed two Al Qaeda prisoners shortly after the video was released.

Samah Hadid, deputy director of Amnesty International's Beirut regional office, called "the horrific scale and secrecy" around the most recent executions "shocking" in a statement on the executions.

"This is a major step backwards for both Jordan and efforts to end the death penalty — a senseless and ineffective means of administering justice. Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent. There is no evidence that the death penalty address violent crime, including terrorist-related acts. Hanging people will not improve public security."

Jordan has long been accused of looking the other way when confronted with accusations of torture by its security and police services.</s>A gunman convicted of firing at a group of Western tourists in Amman in 2006, killing one Briton is among 15 people executed on Saturday by Jordan.

Christopher Stokes, from Littleborough near Rochdale, was killed in September 2006 when gunman Nabeel Ahmed Issa al-Jaourah opened fire in a Roman amphitheatre in Amman.

A total of 15 people were executed on Saturday including 10 convicted on terrorism charges ranging from the attack a decade ago to the slaying of a writer, a judicial source and the government spokesman Mohammad al Momani said on Saturday.

Al Momani said those executed included one man who was convicted of an attack last year on an intelligence compound that killed five security personnel.

Another five were involved in an assault by security forces on a militant hideout in Irbid city in the same year that led to the death of seven militants and one police officer, while the rest related to separate incidents that go back as far as 2003.

It was the largest number of people executed in one day in Jordan's recent history, according to a senior judicial source.

The prisoners were hanged at dawn Saturday at Swaqa Prison, about 47 miles (75 km) south of the capital of Amman, said government spokesman Mohammed Momani. All had links to Islamic militant groups, he said.

Human rights group Amnesty International condemned the executions by hanging saying they were carried out in 'secrecy and without transparency'.

'The scale of today's mass executions is shocking and it's a big step backwards on human rights protection in Jordan,' said Samah Hadid, deputy director of Amnesty International's Beirut regional office.

Hadid said the death penalty was 'problematic because in some cases confessions in Jordan were extracted under torture or duress', echoing widespread complaints by human rights activists.

Amnesty said in a statement earlier: 'Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent.'

Jordan in the past refrained from executing political detainees and either reduced or suspended death sentences handed to fundamentalist Islamists on terror-related charges.

International human rights activists say militants are put on trial in military courts that are unconstitutional and lack proper legal safeguards, adding that there are growing cases of mistreatment and of extracting confessions under duress.

The government denies it tortures prisoners or mistreats detainees, saying its courts abide by human rights laws.

A judicial source said the authorities also executed a gunman who last year shot dead outside a court a Christian writer who was standing trial for contempt of religion after sharing on social media a caricature insulting Islam.

Also among the 10 was a gunman convicted of firing at a group of Western tourists near the Roman amphitheatre in downtown Amman in 2006, killing one Briton and injuring five other people, the judicial source added.

The five other executions were for rape and sexual assault.

Jordan restored the death sentence by hanging in 2014 after a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014.</s>Jordan on Saturday executed 10 men convicted of terrorism charges, including deadly attacks on tourists, Jordanian security forces and a local writer, the government spokesman said.

It was the largest round of executions since pro-Western Jordan launched a crackdown on Islamic extremists two years ago, following the killing of a captured Jordanian fighter pilot by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Jordan is a part of a US-led military coalition against Isil, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq.

The men were hanged at dawn Saturday at Swaqa Prison in central Jordan, government spokesman Mohammed Momani said in a statement carried by the state news agency Petra.

Five others were executed for other crimes, including rape, he said.

“The horrific scale and secrecy around these executions is shocking," Samah Hadid, Deputy Director at Amnesty International’s Beirut regional office, said. “This is a major step backwards for both Jordan and efforts to end the death penalty – a senseless and ineffective means of administering justice.

"Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent."

Mr Momani said the assailants executed Saturday for terror convictions had been involved in five different incidents, from a 2003 bombing attack on Jordan's embassy in Iraq to the September 2016 shooting of outspoken writer Nahed Hattar in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Also listed was a 2006 shooting attack on a group of tourists at a Roman theatre in the center of Amman. A British man was killed in the attack.</s>AMMAN — Fifteen men, including 10 convicted of terrorism, were executed by authorities on Saturday, official sources said.

“We have carried out the execution of 15 men who were convicted of acts of terrorism that led to the death of individuals as well as heinous murders and sexual assaults against men, women and children,” Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani told The Jordan Times.

Momani, also minister of state for media affairs, added: “This is an attempt to bring justice to the victims of those terrorists who threatened our national security. Anyone who will dare engage in terrorist activities against Jordan will face the same destiny.”

The largest in the country’s history, Saturday’s executions were carried out after a long wait since Jordan executed two convicted Iraqi terrorists, Sajida Rishawi and Ziad Al Karboli in February 2015. The two inmates were hanged a day after the release of a video showing the killing of Jordanian pilot Muath Kasasbeh by the Daesh terror group.

Rishawi, who was 44 when she was executed, was convicted by the State Security Court in September 2006 of plotting terror attacks against three hotels in Amman in November 2005, which had left more than 60 people dead and around 90 injured.

Karboli’s death sentence was upheld by the Cassation Court in June 2008 after he was convicted of killing a Jordanian truck driver in Iraq in September 2005, possessing explosives as well as belonging to an illegal organisation, called Tawhid and Jihad, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq.

In December 2014, 11 men were executed in a move seen by many as a sign of reinstating the death penalty in the Kingdom. The capital punishment had been frozen in Jordan since March 2006.

Saturday’s executions, carried out at Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre started at 4am and ended at 7:45am, said a senior official source, who was part of a government team attending the executions.

“The majority of the executed, clad in red uniforms, were calm, with one asking to pray before being executed and another asking his family to pay his debt,” added the source, who preferred anonymity.

The hangings were carried out without trouble, according to the source. “We did not face any issues with the convicted or the procedure itself,” he told The Jordan Times.

“The executions are carried out after the Cassation Court upholds the State Security Court’s and Criminal Court’s rulings. Afterwards, the file is sent to the Cabinet for endorsement. Finally, a Royal Decree has to be issued to approve the execution,” the source explained.

Before any execution is carried out, “the attorney general reviews the files for one last time to make sure procedures are correct, and that there has been no last minute settlement between the victims’ families and the defendant”, which automatically leads to cancelling the death punishment and replacing it with a prison term.

Asked by The Jordan Times if more executions were scheduled, Momani declined to comment but stated that “justice will eventually prevail on those who commit murders and terrorist acts”.

Less than 100 people, including around 10 women, are currently on death row in Jordan, according to the minister.

The issue of capital punishment has drawn a heated debate in Jordan between activists who oppose the death penalty, and officials and lawyers who believe it should stay, supported by a broad section of the public opinion.

Saturday’s executions were met with strong objection and dismay by international organisations.

Human rights group Amnesty International described the executions in a statement as “horrific and shocking”.

“The horrific scale of these executions and secrecy around them are shocking,” said Samah Hadid, deputy director at Amnesty’s Beirut regional office.

“This is a major step backwards for both Jordan and efforts to end the death penalty — a senseless and ineffective way of administering justice. Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent,” the Amnesty statement said.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty addresses violent crimes, including terrorist-related acts. Hanging people will not improve public security,” the statement added.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty at all times and regardless of who is accused, the nature of the crime, guilt or innocence or the method of execution, the statement said.

Meanwhile, many Jordanians hailed the executions on social media.

Munir Issa commented on Facebook following the execution, saying it was “well-deserved”.

Dua Hanafieh also praised the executions on Facebook, saying it was the right thing to do for anyone who would kill a man, woman or a child and “threaten the safety and security of our society”.</s>Jordan on Saturday (4 March) executed 10 men convicted of terrorism-related offences in one of the biggest rounds of executions carried out since the country launched a major crackdown against Islamic extremists more than two years ago.

Another five people were also executed on the same day for other crimes, including rape, government spokesman Mohammed Momani said in a statement carried by the state news agency Petra. Death penalty was restored in Jordan after a moratorium on it ended in 2014.

Momani said that the men were hanged at Swaqa Prison in central Jordan. He added that the convictions of the 10 men were related to five terrorist incidents that took place in the country – one was a 2003 bombing attack on Jordan's embassy in Iraq. The latest was the shooting of a high-profile writer in the Jordanian capital of Amman in September 2016.

A shooting attack in 2006 on a group of tourists at a Roman theatre in the centre of Amman and the killing of a British man were two other incidents connected to the convictions and subsequent executions, the Associated Press wrote.

Jordan is one of the active members of the US-led coalition group that is currently taking part in the fight against terror outfit Isis in Iraq and Syria. The coalition is assisting local ground forces in the two Middle East nations to drive out the militants from their countries.</s>AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan hanged 15 inmates at dawn Saturday, including 10 who were convicted of terrorism, in what officials are calling one of the largest executions since the country reinstated the death penalty two years ago.

The other five prisoners were found guilty of major criminal offenses, including incest and rape, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani told state-run Petra news agency.

Among those executed were five prisoners charged in last year’s assault on a Jordanian intelligence agency office in the Baqaa refugee camp that left five dead and in an attack against security forces in the northern city of Irbid.

The other convicted inmates were responsible for separate attacks and bombings dating to 2003, Petra news agency reported.

Samah Hadid, deputy director at Amnesty International’s Beirut regional office, said, “The horrific scale and secrecy around these executions is shocking.”

“There is no evidence that the death penalty addresses violent crime, including terrorism-related offenses.”

The men were hanged at a correctional center south of Amman.

Jordan had previously imposed a nine-year moratorium on the death penalty. It was lifted in January 2015.

The government says it has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to terrorism or even perceived sympathy for terrorist groups — even voicing support for such groups is an offense punishable with jail time.</s>Jordan hanged 15 death row prisoners including convicted “terrorists” at dawn on Saturday, its information minister said, in a further break with a moratorium on executions it observed between 2006 and 2014.

Ten of those put to death had been convicted of terrorism offences and five of “heinous” crimes including rape, Mahmud al-Momani told the official Petra news agency.

The attorney general for Amman district, Ziad al-Dmour, said the executions represented “a clear message to anyone who tries to undermines the security of the nation”.

Amnesty International, however, expressed shock at the hangings of 15 prisoners — the largest number to be put to death on a single day in Jordan.

“The horrific scale and secrecy around these executions is shocking,” said Amnesty’s deputy director at the group’s Beirut regional office, Samah Hadid.

Momani said all those executed were Jordanians and were hanged in Swaqa prison, south of the capital Amman.

Among the terrorism offences were a 2006 attack on tourists at Amman’s Roman amphitheatre that killed a Briton and a June 2016 attack on an intelligence service base north of the capital that left five agents dead.

They also included the September 2016 murder of Christian writer Nahed Hattar as he stood trial for publishing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam.

King Abdullah II had said in 2005 that Jordan aimed to become the first Middle Eastern country to halt executions in line with most European nations.

Courts continued to hand down death sentences but they were not carried out.

However, public opinion blamed a rise in crime on the policy and in December 2014 Jordan hanged 11 men convicted of murder, drawing criticism from human rights groups.

Opinion hardened after the murder by the Islamic State (IS) group of captured Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh whose plane had crashed in a jihadist-held region of Syria in December 2014 while serving with a US-led coalition.

Grisly footage posted in February the following year of him being burnt alive in a cage outraged the public.

Swiftly afterwards, Jordan hanged two people convicted of terrorism offences, one of them Sajida al-Rishawi.

She had taken part in a 2005 suicide attack on luxury hotels in Amman organised by IS’s forebear, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but her explosives failed to detonate.

According to judicial sources, 94 people remain on death row in Jordan, most of them convicted of murder or rape, following Saturday’s executions.

Dmour, the Amman attorney general, said executions were “the fate of all those who carry out criminal offences”.

But Amnesty International warned that the death penalty was not the way to improve security.

“This is a major step backwards for both Jordan and efforts to end the death penalty – a senseless and ineffective means of administering justice,” Hadid said in a statement.

“Jordan had for years been a leading example in a region where recourse to the death penalty is all too frequent… Hanging people will not improve public security,” Hadid added.

Jordan, which hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from the conflict in Syria, carries out air strikes on IS in both Syria and Iraq as a member of the US-led coalition.

The pro-Western kingdom fears a spillover of the jihadist threat and closely monitors thousands of Jordanians suspected of being IS or Al-Qaeda sympathisers.

In June 2016, a car bomb at a crossing from Syria, claimed by IS, killed seven Jordanian security personnel. Amman has responded by sealing the border.
Jordan says the country executed 15 people today, including 10 who were convicted on terrorism charges with others related to incidents that go back as far as 2003. Amnesty International protests the executions which were carried out in "secrecy and without transparency." Jordan restored the death sentence by hanging in 2014.