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Jordanians offer heartfelt praise for their dead king. Left unspoken is the belief that his 41-year-old son does not pass muster. . . Mr Mughribi makes no direct criticism of King Abdullah

This is because the penalty for criticizing Jordan's king is three years in prison. Of course, a mild penalty such as this makes Jordan a relative bastion of free speech within the Arab world.

Jordan is by no means a free place to be. I know a young man with a christiand mother and an Muslim father in Jordan, and he so much wants to be a Christian, but he was put in jail and held there for many months until he would say what they wanted. (Allah is god and Mohammed is his last prophet) I know other Muslims there who have had Jesus call them in a dream or in a vision, and yet they may not follow Jesus, their Saviour. The penalty there for blasphemy is death. Jordan is shamed by what is called "honor killing" of girls and women. King Abdullah and Queen Rania can not really hold their heads up and proclaim to be a part of the civilized world as long as this goes on in Jordan. There is no honor in murder. God forbids it, and Islam says it is okay. May God help these poor people.