Jordan militant demands release of terrorist suspects, says agents will be hunted down

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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By Jamal Halaby, The Associated Press – Mar 13, 2011

AMMAN, Jordan — The brother of a Jordanian militant who killed seven CIA workers in Afghanistan demanded Sunday that Jordan's government release terrorist suspects.

Mohammed al-Balawi warned that militants will "hunt down" Jordanian authorities who he accused of torturing detainees.

"I'm sending this clear warning to the Jordanian government: Release all the Muslim (militant) detainees and prisoners, or you will open a door nobody will be able to close," al-Balawi said. He declined to elaborate. Jordanian jihadists typically use the word "Muslim" to describe members of their movement, whose hard-line members see themselves as the true followers of Islam.

His threat came in a protest by 300 Salafi Muslims, whose ultraconservative sect is banned in Jordan, a key U.S. ally. Salafis usually operate usually underground but have been emboldened by other protests in Jordan inspired by the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria.

Al-Balawi also said Salafi Muslims will "hunt down" unnamed Jordanian intelligence officers he allegedly have "tortured (militant) prisoners in jails."

Al-Balawi is the brother of a Jordanian doctor who blew himself up in a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009, killing seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer.

Humam Khalil al-Balawi, better known as Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, was a triple agent, recruited by Jordanian intelligence to provide information to the CIA on al-Qaida's number 2, Ayman al-Zawahri. But he turned on his handlers.

Jordan has convicted scores of al-Qaida terrorists for linking with the terror network or for plotting deadly attacks in the kingdom, including a triple hotel bombing in 2005, which killed 60 people.The attack was claimed by the al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. attack in Iraq the next year.

Al-Qaida has targeted Jordan because of its moderate outlook, close ties with the United States and diplomatic relations with Israel under a 1994 peace treaty. Jordan has also been a leading member in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism.

In a related development, 150 members of the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition party, and their leftist allies gathered outside parliament to demand that the elected Chamber of Deputies be dissolved.

"Go away, you were appointed not elected," chanted the group, referring to allegations that the government rigged the election. The Islamic Action Front boycotted last November's voting on grounds that an election law favored the government's conservative Bedouin loyalists, who won a majority of parliamentary seats.

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