15 referred to court over Gaza protests

AMMAN — Authorities referred 15 activists to the State Security Court (SSC) on Thursday for their participation in a protest near the Israeli embassy late Wednesday over ongoing Israeli missile strikes in Gaza, judicial sources and activists said. 

The activists — the majority of whom are under the age of 25 and have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood — are set to face charges of “illegal assembly”, according to judicial sources and Moussa Abdullat, defence attorney for several of the detainees.

Early Thursday, authorities released 11 other activists without charges.

Brief clashes erupted between security services and some 200 leftist and Islamist activists late Wednesday as protesters attempted to march to the Israeli embassy in west Amman’s Rabiah neighbourhood.

Earlier this month, authorities referred 30 citizens to the SSC for their alleged involvement in violent riots which erupted in the Madaba Refugee Camp, south of Amman during a protest over the killing of  Palestinian Mohammad Abu Khdeir by Israelis.

Three of the participants were charged with “intent to carry out terrorist acts” as per the recently passed Anti-Terrorism Law.  

Meanwhile, the State Security Court sentenced three political activists to prison.

In a decision on Wednesday, the court sentenced Mahdi Saafeen, Fadi Massamreh and Ayham Sleem to three months in prison each for “undermining the state” and lèse-majesté during their participation in  protests earlier this year.