Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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08AMMAN2649 | 2008-09-11 14:22:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Amman |
1. (C) Dr. Hassan Al-Abdallat, the Prosecutor General in Amman, is pursuing a criminal case against 12 Europeans, including Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and Dutch MP (and film maker) Geert Wilders, for criticizing Islam. The lawsuit was brought by Zakaria al-Sheikh, founder of "The Prophet Of Allah Unites Us" group, who publishes an Islamist weekly newspaper called Fact International (Ref A) which features inflammatory coverage of the U.S. and Israel while claiming to "portray a moderate image of Islam." 2. (SBU) Sheikh sued Wilders, Westergaard and 10 other Danes in June, accusing them of insulting and slandering Islam, transgressing the feelings of Muslims, vilifying the Prophet, and violating the 2001 Electronic Transactions Law. The Electronic Transaction Law of 2001 allows for the prosecution of "any person who commits an act that constitutes a crime pursuant to legislation in force by using electronic means." Under Jordanian law anyone may bring a case before the public prosecutor. Once presented with a case, the prosecutor decides if the case merits being forwarded to the criminal courts. Part of this process includes requesting the presence of the named parties to hear both versions of the presented case. The subpoenas filed with Interpol by Abdallat in July regard this phase of the case process, not presence for actual prosecution. Embassy contacts at the Ministry of Justice were unsure if Al-Abdallat, who has a reputation as a particularly aggressive prosecutor, had put the case forward to the courts or not. 3. (C) During a September 11 meeting with DCMs from the Danish, Dutch, and Israeli Embassies, DCM was told that both the Danish and Dutch governments had sought to discuss the case with the plaintiff. The Dutch were rebuffed outright, though the plaintiff agreed to meet with a non-official representative of the Danish government. DCMs from both embassies felt that Sheikh's side of the case had been presented but their governments had not been allowed to respond and indicated their governments are unsure how or where to proceed. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Beecroft |