Jordan Court Sentences Three Men to Death Over a Church Shooting
Jordan's State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to hang for the October attack on a Greek Orthodox funeral that killed nine people.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Jordan's State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to death by hanging for a mass shooting at a Christian funeral last month, the BBC, Al Jazeera and Jordan's state news agency Petra reported.
The attack on Oct. 23 targeted St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hammoud, in Karak Governorate, during a funeral procession, Petra reported. The BBC referred to the village as Hmoud. The attack killed nine people, all three outlets reported. The BBC said 34 others were injured, and The Jerusalem Post also reported that 34 people were wounded.
The three men, described as two Jordanian brothers and their brother-in-law, or relative by marriage, fled the scene and were arrested three days later, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported. They have not been publicly identified, the BBC said. Petra reported that the Public Directorate of Security announced on Oct. 26 that the three primary suspects were apprehended inside an abandoned house in Karak after they refused to surrender and engaged security forces. The Jerusalem Post, citing the Public Security Directorate, said all three men were wounded and that no security personnel were injured.
The BBC reported that CCTV footage from the day of the attack showed three men holding guns approaching and firing on the church. It said it is still unclear why the attackers chose that specific church. Karak is home to a sizeable Christian community in the Muslim-majority kingdom, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera said Jordan's Christian minority makes up about 300,000 of the country's 11.5 million people.
Jordan's Armed Forces said in a statement on Sunday that the men had been convicted of committing "terrorist acts," as well as possessing weapons, "promoting the ideas of a terrorist organisation" and "conspiracy to commit terrorist acts," the BBC reported. Al Jazeera, citing a Jordanian military statement, said the "State Security Court issued its ruling sentencing to death the three criminals who carried out the terrorist attack" at the church, and that one of the men was also convicted of "providing funds with the intention of using them to finance the commission of terrorist acts." Petra reported that the funding conviction was under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law No. 20 of 2021.
"The judicial ruling issued by the State Security Court is subject to automatic appeal before the Court of Cassation under the law," Petra reported. The Jerusalem Post, citing Petra, also said the ruling is subject to appeal and automatic review by the Court of Cassation.
Shortly after the attack, Jordan's King Abdullah II wrote on X, "The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation," the BBC reported. He added, "Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity." Al Jazeera reported that the king ordered a review of the country's security procedures for responding to attacks after the incident.
Executions in Jordan are carried out by hanging, the BBC reported. The kingdom previously observed an unofficial ban on executions from 2006 to 2014, and another pause from 2017 until June of this year.
Opinion:
A funeral at a church is not a battlefield. Nine people died because gunmen chose to attack Christians who had gathered to mourn. Courts exist to name that evil and to punish it. Jordan's sentence is severe, and Petra reported that it is subject to automatic appeal. That process should be followed. What should not be softened is the truth: this was a terrorist attack on a church.
Christian communities in the Middle East are often small and often targeted, and the rest of the church should not look away. Groups such as Open Doors have tried to keep that suffering in front of Western governments, including in a recent petition described in Open Doors Delivers a Million-Signature Petition to Downing Street. The men in this case have not been publicly named, and the motive for choosing that parish is still unclear, according to the BBC. The crime itself is not unclear. Worshippers should be able to bury their dead without being murdered.
