AMMAN, 19 March 2003 — A Jordanian journalist convicted of spying and sentenced to death in Qatar arrived home yesterday, hours after the Qatari emir pardoned him in a gesture to Jordan’s King Abdallah II.

Firas Al-Majali, who worked as a reporter for state-owned Qatar Television was convicted and sentenced to death in October for spying and passing military and other information about Qatar to Jordan.

In the latest twist in a sharp downturn in relations between the two Arab states, an appeals court last month confirmed the death sentence.

The official Qatari news agency said the emir, Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al-Thani, issued the pardon on the occasion of King Abdallah II’s visit and in an attempt to strengthen relations between the two nations.

Al-Majali flew aboard Abdallah’s private jet to Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport, where 100 relatives and friends clapped and cheered the journalist as he walked out of a VIP lounge, holding the hand of his wife, Roula Abul-Rouss.

“I thank God and King Abdallah because he went through pains to secure my release,” Al-Majali told the Associated Press.

He smiled to friends who surrounded him and hoisted him to their shoulders. King Abdallah drove by, waving to the crowd.

“This summer cloud is behind us now,” Abul-Rouss said tearfully.

She said the Al-Majalis were holding a party to the freed journalist later yesterday.

Al-Majali’s father, Nasouh, said his son’s troubles were “only a misunderstanding and misinterpretation.”

He declined to elaborate.

“My son has suffered a lot and we hope nobody will go through Firas’ experience,” said the elder Al-Majali, a former minister of information who also has served as an ambassador to several Arab countries.

The Al-Majalis left the airport in a honking, 30-car convoy.

Abdallah was in Doha as part of a regional tour widely viewed as an attempt by the king to familiarize himself with war preparations in the Gulf Arab region.

Qatari officials earlier had alleged that Al-Majali, 30, had sent information to Jordan on the status of American troops in Qatar as well as economic and social data. Cool relations between the two countries complicated Al-Majalis’ case.

Abdallah stayed away from an Islamic summit here earlier this month.

In August, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Qatar in a diplomatic row over a program Al-Jazeera television, based in Qatar, aired that the government found insulting to the royal family. However, the ambassador, Omar Al-Amad, returned in November, and the leaders of the two countries met in Paris in January.