AMMAN, 9 July 2004 — A US-based peace activist met yesterday with the sister of a Jordanian terror suspect as part of his campaign to persuade Saudi extremists to release the body of an American they beheaded.
“She told me that the family supports peace and humanity and denounces terrorism,” K.A. Paul, founder and president of the Washington-based Global Peace Initiative, told The Associated Press.
Wayne Johnson, the younger brother of the beheaded American, Paul M. Johnson Jr., remained in a car outside the house where Paul met briefly with a female member of the family of Abu-Musab Al-Zarqawi. Wayne Johnson has come to Jordan with Paul. Paul at first said they would return to attempt a longer meeting, but later said he felt they had been successful with one encounter and would leave Jordan today.
“We got Zarqawi’s family to denounce terrorism, stand along with Wayne Johnson in promoting peace,” he said. Zarqawi’s family members had earlier taken out newspaper ads saying they were “ashamed” of Zarqawi and that Islam did not condone terrorism.
Before Paul and Johnson arrived yesterday, the same woman with whom they spoke told the AP in Zarqa, 27 kilometers northeast of Amman: “We don’t want to see anybody.” “Who believes that my brother is such an awful man and that he is a terrorist?” she asked. “This is all lies,” added the woman, veiled from head to toe.
