Ali Hattar, one of eight unionists active in an anti-normalization drive, was officially charged on Monday and ordered detained for 15 days pending trial, Jordan Times reported Tuesday.
A judicial source was quoted by the daily as saying that the military prosecutor Lt. Colonel Mahmoud Obeidat charged Hattar on three counts “stashing bomb detonators for illegal purposes, belonging to an illegal group and writing articles harmful to Jordanian personalities and properties.”
Hattar, who was detained immediately after his return to Amman from Damascus, denied all charges.
The unionist, who declined to appoint a lawyer, acknowledged that he is a member of the professional associations' “Anti-Normalisation Committee.”
Possession of explosives is punishable by death if the suspect is found guilty. The second charge falls under the jurisdiction of the civil courts and is punishable by five years in jail, the paper said, noting that affiliation to an illegal group, a misdemeanor also leveled at the seven other suspects in this case, carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
Hattar, an engineer in his 50s, was in Baghdad when seven of his associates in the Anti-Normalisation Committee were arrested on January 8th -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
