Inmate killed in Jordan prison riot
One prisoner was killed and several policemen were wounded in clashes at an isolated hilltop jail in northern Jordan today.
Prisoner Khalid Fawzi Ali al-Bishtawi, a member of a terror cell who was convicted on charges of possessing banned weapons, died on the way to the hospital, said government spokesman Nasser Judeh.
No details were given on the cause of death.
Judeh said several policemen sustained “light to medium injuries” during the clashes that lasted several hours before police took control of Qafqafa jail on the outskirts of Irbid, about 50 miles north of the capital Amman.
“A couple of injuries were also reported among the inmates,” Judeh added.
He denied that two policemen had been taken hostage by the prisoners, mainly Islamists who refused a warden inspection of their jailblock.
Police had suspected they were in possession of “drugs, sharp objects and chemicals” and other banned materials, Judeh said.
He asserted that police were in “total control” of the jail. “The operation has ended. The rioting is over,” he said.
A prisoner who spoke to Al-Jazeera satellite station by mobile phone said earlier that two policemen were being held by the inmates and threatened the lives of the two men if the security forces did not stop their assault.
Tens of armed policemen surrounded the jail, one of six across Jordan. Snipers were positioned on building rooftops inside the jail premises.
Another witness said he saw at least five ambulances leaving the walled prison compound for the nearby Jerash Government Hospital, where at least half a dozen injured policemen were admitted for medical treatment.
Yousef Qoqazeh, director of Jerash hospital, declined to comment.
Prisoner Abed Shihadeh al-Tahawi told Al-Jazeera by mobile phone that security forces used tear gas and live bullets against prisoners, wounding some.
“Our place is still besieged. They are still using tear gas and live bullets,” he said of the security forces in the morning phone call. “We tell them if they proceed, if they won’t stop, if they try to enter, we have two hostages, and their destiny will be grave.”
It was not clear if the officers were detained in the riot or after security forces began their assault.
Al-Tahawi is serving three years in jail for plotting terrorist strikes against the American and Israeli embassies in Jordan in 2004.
The 51-year-old Palestinian advocates the Takfiri ideology, an extremist doctrine that regards non-militant Muslims as infidels, according to documents from the military court that tried him last year. It said he received training on weapon-use during his frequent visits to Afghanistan in 1986.
The dead prisoner, al-Bishtawi, a 31-year-old Jordanian of Palestinian origin, was a member of al-Tahawi’s 16-strong militant cell tried in a Jordan’s military court last year.
He was sentenced to 18 months in jail after being found guilty of possessing banned weapons that the group sought to use in attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Jordan.
Al-Jazeera said Qafqafa prison held 34 Islamist prisoners.
It was the second riot at a Jordanian prison in a month. In March, inmates at three prisons rioted in sympathy over two convicted al-Qaida terrorists, taking a high-ranking official hostage and injuring several police officers in a 14-hour stand-off.
The inmates also demanded the release of a female Iraqi would-be suicide bomber, raising concerns about rising sympathy for the terrorist group in Middle Eastern prisons.
