Jordan rejects US extradition request for terrorist

Jordan’s highest court decided against the extradition of a terrorist responsible for multiple deaths, including two US citizens. 

Jordan’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld a ruling by Amman’s Court of Appeals to reject a US extradition request for one of its citizens who was convicted in Israel of terrorism.

The Hamas-affiliated terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi, played a major role in a mass-casualty suicide bombing at a former Sbarro pizza restaurant in downtown Jerusalem in 2001, at the height of the Second Intifada. Fifteen people were killed in the attack, including seven children, a pregnant woman and two US citizens. Four other Americans were among more than 120 who were wounded.

Although Tamimi pled guilty in Israel to multiple counts of murder and subsequently received 16 life sentences, she was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been in captivity under Hamas since June 2006.

The Jordan News Agency, which originally reported on the Court of Cassation’s ruling, referenced a judicial source who said that Jordan’s parliament has yet to approve an extradition treaty signed by the US and Jordan on March 28, 1995. The source added that criminals are not extradited to another country as long as the relevant extradition treaty “is not effective.”

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News