Posted on 03/14/2005 7:02:05 PM PST by nypokerface
AMMAN (AFP) - Jordanian authorities have arrested a journalist who wrote that a Jordanian national carried out the suicide bombing in Iraq last month that cost 118 lives, the official Petra news agency said.
"Hadi Abdellatif al-Nsour of the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad was arrested because of his erroneous and fabricated article on the Jordanian Raed al-Banna who died in Iraq and in which he alleged that (Banna) carried out the attack in Hilla," interior ministry spokesman Faisal al-Qadi was quoted as saying.
The February 28 suicide car bombing took place in the predominantly Shiite town of Hilla, south of Baghdad.
Qadi said that the journalist would face charges in court at a later date.
Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez said that his country "stands by the brotherly Iraqi people in their fight against terrorism which targets innocent Iraqis.
"We denounce terrorist acts carried out by individuals who have nothing to do with Islam or being Arab."
Ghad's story said that Banna carried out the attack and that his family had held a funeral service to honour him as a "martyr" after carrying out the attack.
Banna's family denied he was involved in the attack but his father said he received a call a few days after the bombing from an unidentified man telling him that his son had died a "martyr" in Iraq.
The allegation caused outrage in Iraq, where protestors on Monday tore down and burnt the flag flying over the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.
Protestors called for Jordanian diplomats to be expelled, for the alleged suicide bomber's family to be prosecuted and for Amman to compensate victims' families.
A similar demonstration was held in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf.
The group of Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, claimed responsibility for the Hilla attack, according to a statement posted on an Islamist website.
Compensation for the victims may put a damper on the recruitment of suicide bombers. The bomber's family might no longer get rich. Whatta shame.
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