Jordan executes 15, including 10 for terror charges

By Laith al-Juneidi

AMMAN (AA) – Jordanian authorities on Saturday executed 15 people, including 10 convicted of terrorism charges, according to a government spokesman.

Mohamed Momani said those executed included five people, who were members of the so-called “Irbid terror cell”, which was responsible for several attacks.

He said the authorities also hanged a man convicted of an attack last year on an intelligence compound that killed five security personnel, according to the official Petra news agency.

The spokesman said those executed also included a man, who shot dead a Christian writer last year while he was standing trial for contempt of religion.

Also among those executed was a man convicted of attacking a group of Western tourists in 2006 near the Roman theater in Amman, killing a British tourist, he added.

Jordanian authorities also executed a man involved in the 2003 bombing attack on Jordan's embassy in Iraq, the spokesman said.

Five other people were executed for other crimes, including sexual assault.

The executions were approved last week by the Court of Cassation, the supreme judiciary authority in Jordan.

Jordan imposed a moratorium on executions in 2006 before restoring the capital punishment in 2014.