Three prominent Jordanian Islamist deputies went on trial on Monday on charges of sowing national discord by visiting the family of slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Mohammad Abu Faris, Ali Abu al-Sukar and Jaafar Hourani all denied charges of stirring up "internal strife and national divisions" by paying their respects to the family of Jordanian born Zarqawi after his death last month. They were among hundreds who went to a tent set up by Zarqawi's family in his birthplace to welcome hundreds of sympathisers.The three defendants, senior members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested on June 12, a day after their visit. They did not enjoy parliamentary immunity because parliament was in recess. Abu Faris, alleged to have described Zarqawi as a "martyr," told the military court "I am not guilty and I made no speeches when I offered condolences."
The government said the visit was an affront to the feelings of most Jordanians, including relatives of 60 people killed in three hotel bombings in the capital Amman last November that Zarqawi claimed to have ordered. The government said it had arrested the legislators after a lawsuit was filed by the families of some victims of the hotel bombings. The Islamists said the deputies' visit to Zarqawi's family was in line with Muslim tradition and did not mean they supported indiscriminate killings of civilians. They accused the government of using the visit as a pretext to step up a state campaign to curb the organisation's growing influence.
The government has been alarmed by the mainstream Islamist movement's more vocal role since its ally, the militant Palestinian movement Hamas, swept to power in last January's Palestinian elections. The IAF, with 17 deputies in the 110-member assembly, has called for sweeping political reforms, including an elected government and changes in an electoral law that works against their chances of gaining political control.