AMMAN: Prosecutors in Jordan have charged a suspect with two terrorism-related offenses in connection with a stabbing attack in Amman last week in which one police officer was killed and another injured.
The State Security Court’s attorney general, Brig. Gen. Military Judge Ahmed Talat Shahaltough, said the suspect had been charged under Jordan’s 2006 Anti-Terrorism Law with committing an armed terrorist act resulting in death, and carrying out an armed terrorist act.
The case has been referred to the State Security Court for trial, the Jordan News Agency reported on Wednesday.
The charges stem from an incident in Madina Munawara Street on Nov. 5 during which Cpl. Jawad Al-Salayta was stabbed to death while on duty near the Sri Lankan embassy in Amman. Another officer, Capt. Firas Al-Ananzeh, sustained facial injuries when he attempted to apprehend the attacker, who was arrested following a struggle with a police patrol.
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had been planning to target security personnel.
The incident happened nearly two weeks after a separate attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate on Oct. 23 in which nine people were killed and dozens wounded.
The incidents sparked renewed debate in Jordan about counterterrorism legislation, and the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Ibrahim Tarawneh, said on Nov.…
