SSC attorney general requests lifting MP Khoury’s immunity

AMMAN — State Security Court Attorney General Muhannad Hijazi on Wednesday sent a memo to the government to request that the Lower House lift the immunity of Deputy Tarek Khoury after a citizen filed a lawsuit against him, a senior judicial source said.

“If the Lower House approves the request then Khoury will be summoned for questioning,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

Also on Wednesday, the head of the Lower House Legal Committee, MP Mustafa Amawi (Islamic Centrist Party list), said the panel will examine the request.

“Tomorrow [Thursday], we will look into the request and previous similar requests to lift the immunity of five other MPs who face lawsuits filed by citizens,” Amawi told The Jordan Times.

A lawsuit has been filed against Khoury at the State Security Court (SSC) accusing him of insulting Jordanians in tweets he wrote following His Majesty King Abdullah’s televised address to the nation last week. Khoury used the slogan raised by the King, “Be proud,” as a hashtag in Arabic and commented on several controversial issues related to the country’s dealings with Israel.

Previously, the Legal Committee formed subpanels to look into requests to lift the parliamentary immunity of deputies Ahmad Safadi (Amman, 3rd District), Qusai Dmeisi (Zarqa, 4th District), Mohammad Dawaimeh (Amman, 2nd District), Mirza Bollad (Zarqa, 1st District) and Motaz Abu Rumman (Shabab Al Wifaq list) to face charges filed by citizens. A parliamentary source told The Jordan Times at the time that the request to lift the immunity of these deputies was submitted by the judiciary to be able to proceed with legal procedures in the lawsuits, which include charges of slander. According to Paragraph A of Article 86 of the Constitution, the lifting of immunity has to be passed by an overwhelming majority of MPs in a full House session. On Tuesday, several Jordanians gathered outside Parliament in the capital’s Abdali neighbourhood to protest against the tweets by the MP, who is also president of Wihdat football club.

Participants waved Jordanian flags and held banners with slogans calling for lifting the MP’s immunity.

The judicial source did not reveal the name of the person who filed the case against Khoury and referred to him only as “a citizen”.

Khoury has said that his remarks did not conflict with the King’s address.

“His Majesty did not tell us to be silent; on the contrary, he called in his speech for fighting darkness and dark ideologies,” the MP wrote on his Facebook page.

Those who attack people’s freedom of speech and use hate speech are the ones who are at odds with what the King said, Khoury added, noting that His Majesty said members of society should stand in solidarity as one family.

Khoury was not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to contact him.