Jordan: Calls for prisoner exchange deal with Israel

The Committee for the Families of Jordanian Prisoners and Missing Persons today demanded the Jordanian Government only hand over a guard at the Israeli Embassy in Amman who killed two Jordanian citizens yesterday, if it is part of an exchange deal that includes the release of Jordanian prisoners.

In a press release, the committee urged that

the murderer of Jordanian citizens in the vicinity of the occupation’s embassy in Amman yesterday should be punished, and the event should be used to secure the freedom of Jordanian prisoners and uncover the fate of other missing persons.

The committee appealed to the martyrs’ family not to accept the release of the murderer of their son except on the condition that he be punished and that 23 Jordanian prisoners held in the Israel’s prisons be released and the fate of 30 missing Jordanians be revealed.

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The committee considered the incident “an opportunity to put pressure on the occupation to release Jordanian prisoners”, noting that it had made a formal request to the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the families of the prisoners calling for Israel to handover the Jordanian prisoners’ file.

The Jordanian authorities refused to evacuate the Israeli embassy staff in Amman before an investigation is conducted following the shooting that took place in an embassy building yesterday evening, killing two Jordanians and injuring an Israeli.

The deputy security officer at the Israeli embassy in Amman was slightly injured after being stabbed in an apartment building belonging to the embassy.

Israeli security sources said that the Israeli security officer was overseeing the replacement of furniture in the embassy compound when he was attacked and stabbed by a Jordanian worker who was shot and killed. Another Jordanian, the owner of the apartment, later died of his wounds.

Israeli media reported that Israeli embassy staff were trapped inside the embassy after Jordanian security forces cordoned off the building. The Jordanian authorities refused to evacuate the staff to Israel before interrogating them and the embassy security officer involved in the incident.

Israel refuses to have its staff interrogated saying the security guard has ‘diplomatic immunity’.