AMMAN, 13 June 2007 — The Jordanian government yesterday confirmed that it still detained seven Islamists in connection with “security” charges and promised to reveal the outcome of investigations when they were completed. The government’s official spokesman Nasser Judeh told a weekly media briefing that ten members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), were arrested over the past six weeks in two batches. “Three of them were released last week and the remaining seven are still in custody for interrogation,” Judeh said.
“The detainees were arrested for conducting activity that targets the state’s security and their detention has nothing to do either with the municipal elections or with their status as IAF members,” he added. “The outcome of the investigations will be made public after they are completed,” Judeh said.
The IAF said earlier that the seven Islamists were arrested in connection with the municipal elections, which are set for July 31, and charged that their detention was part of the government’s “targeting of the party.” The IAF, the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, also claimed that the government was cracking down on its members in a bid to distort the party’s image and sabotage its chances in the parliamentary elections, which are expected in November.
