AMMAN, 20 November 2005 — Jordan is tightening security and speeding up anti-terror laws to ensure the country is better protected against bombings, Interior Minister Awni Yarfas said yesterday.
Jordanian Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings that killed 57 people last week and threatened more attacks.
“We have stepped up security measures at hotels and shopping malls across Jordan and will be equipping them with the latest metal detectors,” Yarfas told Reuters.
He said tougher security measures were also being enforced on the joint border post with Iraq.
Yafas said the government was speeding up drafting a new anti-terror law that would allow the government to prosecute people who express sympathy for suicide bombings and uphold views that may incite or encourage such attacks.
“This is a preventative law to prevent support or sympathy for terror groups that target our stability,” Yarfas said.
Officials involved in drafting the law say it gives police and prosecutors wider powers against “those deemed by word or deed to help, incite, finance or encourage terror activities.”
“The law will take into consideration public freedoms and rights of citizens and at the same time protect the country and citizens in addition to individual freedoms,” Yafas said.
Rights groups say the country’s existing laws already have enough safeguards against radical groups and fear that tougher anti-terror laws will only erode further civil liberties.
Civil rights campaigners say the new law will weaken safeguards meant to prevent people being detained without charge for long periods, and limit freedom of expression.
Yarfas also dismissed threats by Zarqawi, made in an Internet audiotape released on Friday, to launch more attacks in Jordan, and try to kill King Abdullah.
“It will not scare us and does not constitute any worry...We have great trust in the ability of our security forces to foil any new terror attacks,” Yarfas said.
Jordan is a key US ally and one of only two Arab countries, along with Egypt, to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.
In the tape, posted on an Islamist website often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, Zarqawi defended the blasts saying Al-Qaeda had inside information that the three hotels targeted were used by US, Israeli and Jordanian intelligence agencies.
Zarqawi warned ordinary Jordanians to avoid large hotels, military installations and embassies of countries involved in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the tape.
